Ontario is changing the speed limits on major highways

After gradually increasing speed limits on select segments of key highways across the province over the last few years, Premier Doug Ford has just moved to bump the posted maximums on all 400-series arteries to 110 km/h across the board.

The news came on Wednesday during a press conference about the latest progress on the Ontario Line subway, which is just one of the handful of projects Ford says are underway to "get people to where they need to be faster."

In celebrating the fact that work on all parts of the new 15-stop transit route is now in progress, the premier also trumpeted the other steps his government is taking to ease the GTA's famous congestion issues, including the expansion of GO service, multiple additional new TTC lines, widening sections of the 401, building the forthcoming Highway 413, and other measures — such as raising speed restrictions.

"In 2022, we permanently increased the speed limit from 100 km/h to 110 km/h on six sections of provincial highways. Earlier this year, we raised the speed limit on 10 additional sections. And today, I've directed the Minister [of Transportation] to raise the speed limit to 110km/h on all 400-series highways where it is safe to do so," the leader said in his remarks this morning.

"We are leaving no stone unturned to help fight gridlock on our roads, reduce travel times and allow people to spend less time commuting, and more time at home with their families. And that includes the Ontario Line."

Adjusting the legal limits on various freeways first began as a pilot on only three stretches of road in 2019, with motorists invited to submit their feedback to help shape the future of the program.

Around 70 per cent of 8,300 respondents said they were most comfortable driving at 100 km/h or faster, 80 per cent said they felt that limit was too low, and 82 per cent said they would support upping top speeds.

As the Province has noted, motorists in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and B.C. are all permitted to travel at 110 km/hr on equivalent roads.