It never comes near Lake Nona, but it is the road you will use for Magic games, bowl games and a summons to the downtown courthouse.

SR 408 East-West Expressway crossing downtown Orlando, reached from Lake Nona by the SR 417

By David Myers, Broker Associate · NonaOrlandoProperties.com · Last updated September 2026

State Road 408, the Spessard L. Holland East-West Expressway, is a 22-mile toll road run by the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX). It crosses Orange County from Florida's Turnpike near Ocoee to Colonial Drive east of UCF, and it does not pass through or near Lake Nona. Lake Nona residents reach it by taking SR 417 north to the 408/417 interchange at 417 Exit 33. From there the 408 is the direct expressway into downtown Orlando, the Kia Center, Camping World Stadium and Orlando Executive Airport. Tolls are cashless: E-PASS pays the base rate and Pay By Plate costs double.

Ask a Lake Nona resident which expressway they use and the answer is the 417 or the 528. Those are the roads that frame the community, reach the airport and run past the front gates. The 408 does not show up on a Lake Nona map at all.

It still matters, because downtown Orlando sits on it. Concerts, Magic games, a bowl game at Camping World Stadium, a closing at a downtown law office, jury duty: all of them end on the 408. This post covers what the road is, how you get to it from Lake Nona, which trips it is good for, which trips it is not, and what it costs.

What is the 408 Expressway?

The 408 is Orlando's east-west toll expressway, a 22-mile CFX road that crosses downtown between Florida's Turnpike near Ocoee and Colonial Drive east of UCF.

It opened in 1973 as a bypass for Colonial Drive (SR 50), which was then the only east-west road through town. The official name honors Spessard L. Holland, Florida's 28th governor and a four-term U.S. senator. Nobody uses it; locals just say "the 408." A western stretch between Kirkman Road and Clarke Road also carries the name Arnold Palmer Expressway.

CFX calls it the backbone of its network. At its peak, more than 164,000 vehicles a day cross downtown on it. CFX operates everything except the westernmost mile, which belongs to Florida's Turnpike Enterprise.

SR 408 at a glance
Official name Spessard L. Holland East-West Expressway
Length 22 miles
West end Florida's Turnpike near Ocoee
East end SR 50 (Colonial Drive) east of Alafaya Trail, near UCF
Operator Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX); westernmost mile by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise
Opened 1973
Tolling Cashless: E-PASS or compatible transponder, or Pay By Plate at double the rate
Link to Lake Nona SR 417 north to the 408/417 interchange (417 Exit 33)

How do you get to the 408 from Lake Nona?

Take SR 417 north to Exit 33, the 408/417 interchange, then go west for downtown or east for Colonial Drive and UCF's Research Park.

The 417 serves Lake Nona at four interchanges: Lake Nona Boulevard (Exit 19), Narcoossee Road (Exit 22), Moss Park Road (Exit 23) and Dowden Road/Innovation Way (Exit 24). The 417's exits are numbered by mile, so the number tells you the distance. Getting on at Dowden Road puts you about nine miles from the 408. Getting on at Lake Nona Boulevard puts you about fourteen. On a downtown trip, which Lake Nona interchange you use changes the distance by roughly five miles.

The 408/417 interchange is not new. It was built as part of the 408's eastern extension, which opened in 1989, and the 417's southeastern beltway connected to it in April 1990. CFX finished rebuilding the 408/417 north interchange in January 2013, and a later phase replaced the old loop ramp to the westbound 408 with a flyover.

For how the 417 and 528 work on the Lake Nona end, see the GreeneWay and Beachline guide. For the roads inside the community, see getting around Lake Nona. Both sit under the Roads & Transportation hub.

What is the 408 good for if you live in Lake Nona?

Downtown Orlando and the places along it. For a Lake Nona resident, the 408 is an event-and-errand road, not a daily one.

CFX lists the 408 as the main route to these places, and each is a real reason to use it from Lake Nona:

  • Kia Center and the downtown entertainment district. Magic games, concerts, and the restaurants and bars around Church Street.
  • Camping World Stadium. Bowl games, concerts and large events. The stadium ramps are the ones being rebuilt now (see below).
  • Downtown offices and government. City Hall, the Orange County Courthouse, and the law and finance offices in the central business district.
  • Orlando Executive Airport. The general-aviation airport beside Lake Underhill, if you fly private or take flight lessons.
  • Valencia College's East Campus. Reached from the 408's Chickasaw Trail interchange and its connector road.

More on the destination itself is in our downtown Orlando guide. If downtown is a daily commute rather than an occasional trip, read commuting from Lake Nona too.

Which trips from Lake Nona should skip the 408?

The airport, UCF, the beaches and the theme parks. Most of the trips a Lake Nona household makes every week never touch the 408.

  • Orlando International Airport. The airport is just north of Lake Nona, reached by the Beachline or the 417. The 408 is miles north of the terminals. See the Orlando International Airport guide.
  • UCF's main campus. The 417 continues north past the 408 interchange toward Colonial Drive and UCF, which is why the 417 was built in the first place. The 408's east end lands on Colonial Drive near UCF's Research Park, which only helps if you are coming from downtown.
  • The Space Coast and the beaches. The Beachline (SR 528) runs east from the north edge of Lake Nona to Cocoa and Cape Canaveral. The 408 does not go to the coast.
  • The theme parks. The 417 runs southwest from Lake Nona to I-4 at Celebration. The 408 is the wrong direction.

A common mistake from newcomers is treating the 408 and I-4 as interchangeable because they cross just southwest of downtown. They do different jobs. I-4 is the free interstate running toward the parks and Tampa. The 408 is the east-west toll road. From Lake Nona you rarely need either one.

What does the 408 cost from Lake Nona?

A Lake Nona to downtown trip pays tolls on two CFX roads, the 417 and the 408, and how you pay matters more than which route you take.

Every CFX road is cashless. There are no booths and no coin baskets.

  • E-PASS or a compatible transponder pays the base electronic rate. CFX puts that at an average of 14 cents per mile. The E-PASS sticker is free for every car in the household.
  • Pay By Plate photographs your plate and mails a bill to the registered owner at double the E-PASS rate. On a rental car, the rental company gets the bill and passes it on with its own fees.
  • Rates rise every July 1. Under a 2018 CFX policy, the increase is the higher of the Consumer Price Index increase for the South or 1.5%. The current rate chart took effect July 1, 2026.
  • Volume savings. CFX's E-PASS program has taken 20% off at 40 to 79 transactions a month and 25% off above 80. Florida's Turnpike transactions do not count toward the total. Check the current terms on the CFX site.

The Lake Nona detail that matters: the 417 through Lake Nona and the 408 are both CFX roads. A regular downtown commuter builds up volume transactions on both halves of the same trip, and a daily round trip covers several toll points. For the exact cost of your route, use the CFX toll calculator rather than a number printed in a blog post, including this one.

What construction is happening on the 408?

A $218.7 million rebuild of the 408 between Church Street and I-4 started in January 2026 and is scheduled to run through 2029.

CFX awarded the project to Hubbard Construction. It adds an eastbound lane on that stretch and rebuilds the Tampa Avenue and Orange Blossom Trail exits, the I-4 interchange and the tolling sites. That is the stretch around Camping World Stadium, which makes it the part of the 408 a Lake Nona resident heading to a game or concert is most likely to use. Expect lane shifts and ramp closures there for several years. CFX posts them on its construction alerts page.

A second widening is in design. It would take two more segments from four lanes to five: Goldenrod Road to Semoran Boulevard, and Bumby Avenue to I-4. Design is expected to finish in early 2027. No construction date has been set.

Will the 408 ever be extended farther east?

Not any time soon. CFX studied a seven-mile extension from Colonial Drive to SR 520 and put the project on hold.

The extension would have been a first step toward an expressway link to I-95 and a second evacuation route out of east Orange County. It ran east toward Brevard County, away from Lake Nona. Even if it is revived, it would change nothing for a Lake Nona resident, whose route to the coast is already the Beachline.

The honest pros and cons

Pros

  • A signal-free expressway into downtown, running parallel to a Colonial Drive full of stoplights.
  • The whole Lake Nona to downtown run, 417 then 408, is on CFX roads: one E-PASS account and one volume-savings count.
  • Direct exits for the Kia Center, Camping World Stadium and the downtown office core.
  • Easy access to Orlando Executive Airport for general aviation.

Cons

  • It is not near Lake Nona. Every 408 trip starts with nine to fourteen miles of 417 depending on your interchange, all of it tolled.
  • Tolls rise every July 1, and Pay By Plate costs double.
  • The stretch around Camping World Stadium is under construction through 2029, and it is the stretch Lake Nona residents use most.
  • Event traffic backs up at the stadium interchanges. The CFX board cited those backups as a safety problem when it approved the rebuild.

Our Take: For most Lake Nona households, the 408 is an occasional road. You will learn it for a Magic game and a jury summons, not for the school run. The exception is a buyer who works downtown every day. For that buyer, the toll math and the distance from their Lake Nona interchange to Exit 33 are real inputs to the home search, not trivia. The Dowden Road side of Lake Nona is about five 417 miles closer to the 408 than the Lake Nona Boulevard side. Drive the commute at your actual work hours before you choose a neighborhood, and set up an E-PASS before your first week on the job, not after the first Pay By Plate bill.

What the neighbors know

Lake Nona was laid out around the 417, the Beachline and the airport, not around downtown. That is exactly why people who work at Medical City, fly often or head to the coast on weekends end up here. Downtown is the trip that requires some planning, and the 408 is how that trip ends.

The neighbors who do it well keep an E-PASS on every car, check CFX's construction alerts before a stadium event, and treat the 408 as the last few miles of the drive rather than a reason to pick a house. For where Lake Nona sits against the rest of the metro, see where is Lake Nona.

Official sources

Weighing a Lake Nona home against a downtown commute? Call/Text David Myers at 407.801.3286 or use the contact form, and we will look at which neighborhoods put you closest to the roads you actually drive.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 408 Expressway go to Lake Nona?

No. The 408 runs east-west across the middle of Orange County, from Florida's Turnpike near Ocoee to Colonial Drive east of UCF, and never comes near Lake Nona. Lake Nona residents reach it by taking SR 417 north to the 408/417 interchange at 417 Exit 33.

How do you get on the 408 from Lake Nona?

Take SR 417 north from any of the four Lake Nona interchanges: Lake Nona Boulevard (Exit 19), Narcoossee Road (Exit 22), Moss Park Road (Exit 23) or Dowden Road/Innovation Way (Exit 24). Stay on the 417 to Exit 33, then take the 408 west toward downtown Orlando or east toward UCF's Research Park and Colonial Drive.

Is the 408 a toll road?

Yes. The 408 is a cashless CFX toll road. An E-PASS or compatible transponder pays the base electronic rate, which CFX puts at an average of 14 cents per mile. Pay By Plate, where CFX mails a bill to the vehicle's registered owner, costs double.

Do I need the 408 to get from Lake Nona to UCF?

No. The 417 continues north past the 408 interchange toward Colonial Drive and the UCF main campus, so the 408 is not part of that trip. The 408 only helps if you are heading downtown or coming to UCF from the west side of Orlando.

Why is the 408 under construction near downtown Orlando?

CFX is running a $218.7 million project on the 408 between Church Street and I-4. It adds an eastbound lane and rebuilds the Tampa Avenue and Orange Blossom Trail exits, the I-4 connection and the tolling sites. Work started in January 2026 and is scheduled to run through 2029.

How often do 408 tolls go up?

Every year on July 1. Under a policy CFX adopted in 2018, tolls rise by the higher of the annual Consumer Price Index increase for the South or 1.5%. The current rate chart took effect July 1, 2026.