Currently, the trip from eastern Taipei to Toucheng via Shihting and Pinglin takes roughly half an hour--that's a saving of almost an hour and a half over the old highway, and means that Ilan is now being drawn into the greater Taipei community.
北宜高全長 55 公里，以目前行車速限 70 公里計算，約 40 分鐘即可由台北東區經石碇、坪林、頭城至蘇澳，較走台九線「九拐十八彎」大幅節省近 1.5 小時。