M-5 (Michigan Highway)

M-5 (Michigan Highway)

M-5 is a 20.807-mile-long (33.486 km) state trunkline highway in the Metro Detroit area of the US state of Michigan. The highway runs through suburbs in Oakland and Wayne counties in addition to part of Detroit itself. It starts in Commerce Township as a north–south divided highway and freeway called the Haggerty Connector and connects with Interstate 96 (I-96) in Novi. The freeway then turns southeasterly to bypass the suburb of Farmington as an east–west highway. The freeway ends on the southeast side of Farmington, and M-5 follows Grand River Avenue as boulevard into Detroit. The eastern terminus is at an interchange with I-96 in Detroit. The trunkline passes between suburban residential subdivisions and along urban commercial areas while serving 17,200–68,800 vehicles on average each day.

Grand River Avenue started as the path of an early wagon trail in the Michigan Territory, carrying settlers from Detroit inland along a route previously used by Native Americans. It was later a plank road that helped to connect Detroit with the state capital of Lansing and Grand Rapids. When the state highway system was signed in 1919, the avenue was numbered as part of M-16. Later it became US Highway 16 (US 16). Grand River Avenue was supposed to be the path for I-96 from Novi into downtown Detroit, and a section of freeway now used by M-5 was constructed as part of I-96 before the Interstate was rerouted to a different location. In the 1990s another section of freeway, which was originally proposed for a northern extension of I-275, was opened. This freeway called the Haggerty Connector was added to M-5. Additional projects have extended the highway farther north and added a roundabout to the northern terminus. A different highway was previously designated M-5 in another area of the state in the 1930s.