State Road 46 begins as Sanford Road at an unnumbered diamond interchange with US 441, where it changes from a County Road to a State Road. After the intersection with Round Lake Road, SR 46 turns northeast and runs parallel to an abandoned railroad line, which it then curves away from, but then encounters at a former grade crossing in Sorrento just west of the intersection with County Road 437, which shares a brief concurrency with SR 46 for several blocks. East of Sorrento, the road becomes Sorrento Avenue, a name it maintains as it passes by County Road 435 in Mount Plymouth, and then Seminole State Forest. Before entering the forest however, SR 46 passes by Mount Plymouth Lake to the south and encounters the same right-of-way for the abandoned railroad to the north, which runs parallel to the road as even after it leaves the forest on a bridge over the Wekiva River at the Lake-Seminole County line becoming North Henderson Lane, and running along the south end of Lower Wekiva River Preserve State Park. After the intersections with Orange Avenue and Wayside Drive, SR 46 becomes a four lane divided highway before reaching the interchange with Interstate 4, and later joins a concurrency with U.S. Route 17/92, the latter of these routes is in a wrong-way concurrency. Along this segment, US 17/92/SR 46 passes by the Sanford SunRail station before it climbs a bridge over the CSX Sanford Subdivision then intersects Persimmon Avenue, a road leading to the Sanford Auto Train Station, and former passenger station. Eventually the triple-concurrency enters the City of Sanford where it is renamed West First Street. Closer to downtown Sanford the divider ends west of Avocado Avenue, but begins again before it turns south onto South French Avenue. During this triple-concurrency, US 17-92-SR 46 intersects a pair of railroad crossings at a junction of two freight lines, and then another one at the intersection of West 13th Street, also the western terminus of County Road 415. SR 46 then branches off to the east again at H.E. Thomas Jr. Parkway and 25th Street. SR 46 runs along the northern border of the Orlando Sanford International Airport, then after the southern terminus of State Road 415, uses a bridge over Lake Jesup at the Saint Johns River then become Geneva Avenue as it heads southeast. East of Geneva, the road crosses the St. Johns River itself using the Mims Bridge south of Lake Harney, and entering Volusia County. The journey through Volusia is short-lived though, because the road quickly enters Brevard County and turns straight east at Southmere, where it becomes Carpenter Road. SR 46 finally enters Mims in the vicinity of Interstate 95 at Exit 223, and then ends at US 1.
Future
SR 46's interchange with US 441 will be reconfigured from a diamond interchange to an at-grade intersection supplemented with two flyovers from SR 46 west to US 441 north, and from US 441 south to SR 46 east. Additionally, SR 46 will be truncated at its interchanges with SR 453 and SR 429 when the Wekiva Parkway is completed in 2022. The existing alignment will be renamed Sorrento Avenue. CR 46A's intersection with SR 46 will be relocated to decrease impacts to Seminole State Forest.
Major intersections
Related routes
County Road 46
County Road 46 is a county extension of State Road 46 in Mount Dora in Lake County in Florida. It runs along East First Avenue from CR Old 441 in the west to a diamond interchange with U.S. Route 441 and SR 46 in the east. West of Old CR 441, East First Avenue is a city street in Mount Dora.
County Road 46A (Lake County)
County Road 46A is a county suffixed route of SR 46 along the southwest side of Seminole State Forest in Lake County. It runs along East First Avenue from State Road 44 east of Mount Dora and Eustis to the west to SR 46 to the east.
County Road 46A (Seminole County)
County Road 46A is another county suffixed route of SR 46 in Seminole County. It is signed along H.E. Thomas Jr. Parkway from CR 431 east to US 17/92 / SR 46 in Sanford.
