STATE ROAD 408 (SPESSARD LINDSAY HOLLAND EAST-WEST EXPRESSWAY)
State Road 408 (East-West Expressway) is the backbone of the Expressway Authority’s 100-mile network. The nearly 25-mile toll road extends from the Florida’s Turnpike in Ocoee, across Interstate 4 and through downtown Orlando, and continues east to end at State Road 50 (Colonial Drive) east of Alafaya Trail.
SR 408 is a lifeline for the community: As many as 125,000 - 135,000 vehicles a day travel the expressway through downtown Orlando.
SR 408 is owned and operated by the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) except for the westernmost mile, which is owned by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise.
SR 408 provides a faster, safer alternative to heavily traveled SR 50 and other roads that cross portions of Orange County from east to west. The expressway provides convenient access not only to hundreds of communities, but to corporate and government offices in the city center, the Citrus Bowl and other entertainment venues, the Orlando Executive Airport, SR 436 (and the Orlando International Airport), Valencia Community College, SR 417 (and the University of Central Florida), Lockheed Martin and the Waterford Lakes Shopping district.
Motorists and residents already have benefited from the ongoing $640 million expansion of the East-West Expressway, which began in 2003. Improvements include additional through lanes, expanded interchanges, as well as aesthetic sound walls, bridge treatments and landscaping.
The Expressway Authority finished improving the first segment of SR 408 from Tampa Avenue to the Interstate 4 Interchange in December 2005. The agency completed the newly widened portions of SR 408 from Hiawassee Road to Tampa Avenue in May 2007, and from Rosalind Avenue to Crystal Lake Drive through downtown Orlando in June 2007.
Also as part of the expansion project, by 2009 all of the SR 408 mainline toll plazas will have been converted to Express Lanes, which keep traffic moving by allowing customers to pay their tolls at the posted speed.
The Expressway Authority made Express Lanes available to SR 408 motorists at the Dean Road Main Toll Plaza in 2005, and at the Hiawassee Main Toll Plaza in 2006. As part of the completed widening of SR 408 from Tampa Avenue to Hiawassee Road, the Expressway Authority replaced the Holland West Main Toll Plaza with the new Pine Hills Main Toll Plaza featuring Express Lanes farther west in late 2006.
SR 408 History
The history of SR 408 and the Expressway Authority is closely tied to the history of the growth of Central Florida. The Expressway Authority was established by the state Legislature in 1963 primarily to build the SR 528 Bee Line Expressway (now the BeachLine Expressway).
In early 1966 when the Expressway Authority was building SR 528, then-Governor Haydon Burns asked the agency to look into an east-west freeway through downtown Orlando to relieve traffic on SR 50. At the time SR 50 was the only east-west road across town, and the expected openings of the Naval Training Center in 1968, the Florida Technological University (now UCF) in 1969 and Walt Disney’s huge theme park in 1971 raised concerns that Colonial Drive traffic would become gridlocked.
After extensive planning and public debate the final design took SR 408 across Interstate 4 just south of Anderson Street, through town and across Lake Underhill. The $89 million expressway opened in 1973 from SR 50 just east of what’s now Hiawassee Road, heading south and through downtown and across Lake Underhill, and then back north to SR 50 east of Goldenrod Road.
The road was formally dedicated the Spessard Lindsay Holland East-West Expressway in honor of the popular four-term United States Senator from Lakeland, who had just retired from office.
The new road included two new mainline toll plazas (Holland West and Holland East) and ramp toll plazas at U.S. Highway 441 (Orange Blossom Trail), Mills Avenue, Bumby Avenue, Conway Road and SR 436 (Semoran Boulevard). Drivers initially were charged 20 cents at the main toll plazas and 10 cents at the ramp exits.
By 1984, the alignment of the SR 408 eastern extension had been chosen. Construction began in 1987, and the section from existing SR 408 to Rouse Road opened in May 1989. The rest of the six-mile road opened in June 1989, at a total cost of $105 million. This project included a full interchange with the planned SR 417’s Southeastern Beltway (opened in April 1990), the new Dean Road Main Toll Plaza, as well as a connection at the east end at SR 50 to the Central Florida Research Park.
An initial connection to Florida's Turnpike and the planned SR 429 (then-Western Beltway) was studied in 1985 and approved by the OOCEA Board in July 1986. Construction of the 4.5-mile extension began in mid-1989 and was completed on October 8, 1990 at a cost of $102 million. This project included adding the Hiawassee Main Toll Plaza. The full interchange with the Turnpike was completed in August 2006.
Also in 2006, the Expressway Authority finished building two new access ramps to connect Good Homes Road with SR 408 in both directions. Additionally, the OOCEA widened the Good Homes Road bridge to accommodate Orange County’s project to widen that side street between SR 50 and Old Winter Garden Road.
For the SR 408 map, click here  .
For information on current SR 408 projects, click here.
For information on the Expressway Authority portion of the SR 408 -
East-West Expressway, contact:
Brian Hutchings
Public Information Officer
407-383-5817
construction@oocea.com
For information on the Florida's Turnpike Enterprise portion of the SR 408 -
East-West Expressway, contact:
Christa Deason
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise Headquarters
Public Information Office
PO Box 613069
Ocoee, FL 34761
407-264-3492
christa.deason@dot.state.fl.us
|