The road runs from the Turnpike in Gotha, east through downtown Orlando, where it intersects with I-4, ending near SR 50 south of the University of Central Florida.

The East–West Expressway passes through a major stack interchange with Interstate 4 in Downtown and proceeds eastward to the Conway Toll Plaza, followed by major junctions with State Road 436 (Semoran Boulevard), and State Road 417 (Central Florida Greeneway).

The two barrier toll plazas – Holland West and Holland East – each charged 20 cents, while the ramp tolls – present at Orange Blossom Trail, Mills Avenue, Bumby Avenue, Conway Road and Semoran Boulevard, charged 10 cents.

The Florida Department of Transportation took over operation and maintenance, giving revenues to the OOCEA.

[7] Prior to the start of construction on the eastern extension, the Northeastern Beltway (State Road 417) was built north from the existing east end of the East–West Expressway at Colonial Drive.

As part of this project, in 1987 and 1988, two ramps were added to the Goldenrod Road interchange to make it full, and the three at-grade intersections were removed – Chickasaw Trail became an overpass, Valencia College Lane became an interchange, and Millinockett Lane was simply cut.

The rest of the six-mile (10 km) road opened in June, with a total cost of $105 million.

This project included a full interchange with the planned Southeastern Beltway (opened April 14, 1990), the Dean Road barrier toll, as well as a connection at the east end to the Central Florida Research Park.

A wide median was left where the road curves north to end at SR 50 for further extension, but the land to the east has since been developed.

Construction on the 4.5-mile (7 km) extension began in mid-1989 and was completed on October 8, 1990, costing $102 million total.

The extension was designed to have a full interchange with the Turnpike, but originally only the north-pointing ramps were built.

[7] At some point in the late 1990s, the John Young Parkway (SR 423) interchange was completed; it had formerly only had ramps to and from the east.

At the western end of the expressway a new set of ramps to Florida's Turnpike opened in August 2006.

Likewise, previously only southbound Turnpike traffic could exit onto eastbound TOLL 408.

Starting in September 2003, a $600 million widening project occurred in the central and western part of the road.

[9] On October 13, 2016, Central Florida Expressway board members approved to rename a portion of SR 408 after professional golfer Arnold Palmer.

A ramp stub was constructed in advance of the completion the conversion to stack interchange on SR 408 westbound.

[1] The alternative solution, dubbed the Colonial Parkway has been shelved by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) [14] so as of now the extension is still sitting on hold Talks of extending SR 408 south past SR 528, Nova Road, down to US 192, named the Northeast Connector Expressway Extension (NECEE), a CF&M study done the Central Florida Expressway Authority.

But the Southward extensions won't become a reality until after 2040 since these are part of a development plan dubbed the North Ranch Master Plan in Osceola County[16] Florida's Turnpike Enterprise is currently planning to widen Florida's Turnpike from 8 to 12 lanes from SR 408 in Gotha to SR 50/West Colonial Drive near Oakland and Clermont which includes interchange improvements at Florida's Turnpike/SR 429(Daniel Webster Western Beltway) and SR 408 by constructing an 8 lane (4 lanes in both directions) Collector/Distributor System, connecting SR 408 with SR 429 without having to take Florida's Turnpike mainline, which helps drastically decrease the congestion and weaving between the two expressways on the Turnpike.

It then intersects with Woodbury Road then turns westward, intersecting with 2 streets with a traffic stop, Ingenuity Drive and Challenger Tech Court then ends at SR 434 (Alafaya Trail) in a traffic stop.