The Ontario government is hiking its provincial speed limit from 100 km/h to 110 km/h on most of its provincial highways — including some in Ottawa — by the end of this summer.
The province says the newest increase will be implemented “incrementally” starting this Friday, June 26, through the end of September 2026.
While all of the 416 in the city will see this new change only some sections of the 417 will have their limits increased to 110 km/h.
Starting Aug. 21, the changes will apply to following sections:
- Highway 7 from Appleton Side Road/County Road 17 to Highway 417
- Highway 416 from 1.5 km south of the Highway 416/417 interchange to Fallowfield Road
- Highway 417 from Leitrim Road to Ottawa Regional Road 174
- Highway 417 from the Highway 416/417 Interchange to Highway 7
The stretch of the 417 between the 416 and the 174 will maintain its current 100 km/h speed limit.
Once the new speed limit is implemented across Ontario, a total of 938 kilometres worth of provincial highways will have the new 110 km/h limit, according to the province. This will mark a 43 per cent increase from the posted 110 km/h speed limits today.
The province says this move follows a “safe and successful” precedent from 2022 and again in 2024.
“The change builds on the safe and successful increase to speeds on 10 sections of provincial highways in 2024 and six sections of provincial highways in 2022, aligning with posted speed limits in other jurisdictions across Canada,” according to the release.
The newest changes are happening across the province. Highway 401 and 416 in eastern Ontario will see the increase by this Friday, while sections of Highway 401, 402, 403, 416, 417 and Queen Elizabeth Way will see that change by Sept. 30.
The province claims the newest increase will save “nearly half an hour” on the road for those travelling from Toronto to Ottawa, while drivers travelling from Sarnia to Toronto could save approximately 20 minutes.
“Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is helping get drivers where they’re going faster and safely,” said Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation in a news release. “We’re going to keep supporting commuters, workers and businesses by investing in our $31 billion plan to build and expand roads and highways, so we can get people and goods moving across Ontario and keep workers on the job.”
The province says the new speed limit increases are only implemented on highways that have been designed to safely accommodate higher speeds, following “rigorous” technical reviews.
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