Image: Challisrussia, Wikimedia Commons. The Highway 400/401 interchange — both roads are getting the 110 km/h increase this year.
On June 24, Premier Doug Ford and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria announced Ontario is raising the posted limit to 110 km/h on 938 additional kilometres of provincial highway, including sections of Highways 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 407, 412, 416, 417, 115, and the QEW. The first sections — Highway 401 between Highway 15 and Highway 16, and Highway 416 near Cedar Grove Road, both in Eastern Ontario — took effect this past Friday, June 26. The rest roll out in stages through the summer, with the final batch live by September 30. The province says that by October, close to 89% of Ontario's highway network will be posted at 110 km/h, up from 43% today. Ontario Newsroom, June 2026 · Global News, June 2026
For Vaughan specifically, the date that matters is August 21 — that's when Highway 400 from Highway 401 to Lake Joseph Road moves to 110 km/h. Highway 404 (Highway 401 to Mulock Drive) follows on September 30, alongside the stretch of Highway 401 from Merlin Road through Highway 427 and on to Highway 404/35/115, plus sections of the QEW and the far-eastern end of Highway 407. The central, tolled section of the 407 that most GTA commuters actually drive is not part of this round.
The mechanism, not the headline
This mostly legalizes what's already happening. Anyone who drives the 400 or 401 regularly knows the prevailing traffic speed on a clear day already sits closer to 110–115 than 100. Minister Sarkaria's stated rationale — that these increases only apply to sections that pass a technical review and were built to handle the higher speed — lines up with how the province has done this before: roughly 800 km of highway already moved to 110 km/h in 2022 and 2024 pilots, and Sarkaria says those sections have not shown a fatality increase. That track record is the actual case for this round, not just political will.
The part most drivers will miss: the stunt-driving threshold doesn't move. Ontario law already triggers a stunt-driving charge at whichever comes first — 50 km/h over the posted limit, or an absolute 150 km/h. On a 100 km/h highway those two numbers are the same, so it's never mattered which one technically applies. On a newly-110 highway, the math changes: 50 km/h over would be 160, but the government has confirmed the 150 km/h absolute cap stays in place. So on the 400 once it hits 110, the real buffer before a stunt charge — 6 demerit points, a 30-day licence suspension, and impoundment, on a first offence — shrinks from 50 km/h over to 40 km/h over. The posted limit went up; the room for error above it went down.
The GTA-relevant rollout dates
- Now: Highway 401 (Hwy 15–16) and Highway 416 (near Cedar Grove Rd), Eastern Ontario — live since June 26.
- August 21: Highway 400, Highway 401 to Lake Joseph Road — the route most Maple Honda customers use.
- September 30: Highway 404 (Hwy 401–Mulock Dr), Highway 401 through western/eastern GTA, sections of the QEW, and the far-eastern 407.
- Not in this round: the central, tolled 407 corridor most GTA commuters actually drive.
My prediction: Once Highway 400 hits 110 km/h on August 21, I'll start hearing about it from customers before I bring it up — specifically as a reason to actually test Honda Sensing's adaptive cruise control rather than skip past it on the feature sheet. Holding a steady 110 km/h by hand for 30–40 minutes on the 400 is a more tiring drive than the same stretch at 100, and that's exactly the kind of driving adaptive cruise was built for. I'd expect ACC demo requests on CR-V and Civic test drives to noticeably tick up after August 21, not stay flat.
My prediction: When Ontario publishes its first full year of collision data for the newly-110 GTA corridors (Highway 400, the 401 through the GTA, and Highway 404), average travel speeds will be measurably higher but the fatality rate won't rise in step — matching the pattern from the 2022 and 2024 pilots. The province will use that result, by mid-2027, to justify extending 110 km/h to the one corridor conspicuously left out of this round: the central, tolled section of Highway 407.
If you're buying or leasing right now: if your daily drive includes the 400, 401, or QEW, it's worth actually testing Honda Sensing's adaptive cruise and lane-keep assist on a highway on-ramp before you decide on a trim — once 110 km/h is the legal cruising speed on your commute, that system does noticeably more work than it does at 100, and it's not exclusive to the top trim on every model.
Driving the 400 or 401 every day?
Come test Honda Sensing's adaptive cruise control on an actual highway on-ramp before you pick a trim — it's the feature that matters most once 110 km/h is your daily cruising speed.