M-5 (Michigan Highway) - Route Description

Route Description

M-5 starts at a roundabout intersection with Pontiac Trail in Commerce Township. It runs south-southwesterly from here in Oakland County as a divided highway between suburban residential subdivisions in the township. South of Maple Road, the highway is bordered by commercial developments to the east and Long Park to the west as it angles southeasterly. Between 14 and 13 Mile roads, the highway is once again bounded by subdivisions. Along this part of the trunkline, access to the road is limited to major intersections only, making the highway an expressway. Immediately south of the 13 Mile Road intersection, M-5's median widens out as the highway transitions to a full freeway called the Haggerty Connector. Traffic can only access the highway at grade-separated interchanges instead of at-grade intersections. A collector-distributor lane setup parallels the main freeway lanes proving access to the ramps at the 12 Mile Road interchange as well as ramps from the massive interchange with I-96, I-275 and I-696. Through this interchange complex that straddles the Novi–Farmington Hills city line, M-5 turns to the southeast, and signage changes direction. The Haggerty Connector is signed north–south, while the rest of M-5 is signed east–west. M-5 has direct connections with ramps to I-696 and I-96 east/I-275 south as it crosses over into Farmington Hills.

The next interchange for the M-5 freeway connects to Grand River Avenue and 10 Mile Road. This section of the freeway bypasses residential areas of Farmington Hills. Further east, M-5 crosses into Farmington where it bypasses the downtown area of the suburb. Past 9 Mile Road, the freeway ends at the intersection with Grand River Avenue, and M-5 follows Grand River southeasterly as a boulevard, a type of divided street. Traffic that wishes to make left turns must use a Michigan left maneuver along this section of the highway. Additionally, traffic that needs to change sides of the street must use crossovers in the median to perform a U-turn. Once again running through suburban Farmington Hills, the trunkline passes Botsford Hospital before intersecting 8 Mile Road. This intersection marks the place where M-5 crosses into Wayne County, and the western terminus of the M-102 designation on 8 Mile Road. Grand River Avenue runs through the northern section of Redford Township in Wayne County and crosses into Detroit at the intersection with 7 Mile Road and 5 Points Street.

The northwest corner of Detroit is mostly residential as M-5 intersects US 24 (Telegraph Road). Past Telegraph, Grand River Avenue forms the northern boundary of the Grand Lawn Cemetery and later the southern boundary of the New Rogell Golf Course. The properties bordering M-5 transition to commercial use past these two green spaces, and the highway continues southeasterly through the city as an undivided street. Grand River Avenue intersects Outer Drive near several businesses. M-5 crosses over M-39 (Southfield Freeway) near the intersection with Fenkell Street, which would be 5 Mile Road in the Detroit grid system. The residential areas off the adjacent side streets increase in density east of the Southfield Freeway. M-5 ends at the interchange with I-96 between Schoolcraft and Plymouth roads in the middle of another larger commercial zone; Grand River Avenue continues from this location as an unsigned highway numbered internally as OLD BS I-96 all the way into downtown.

M-5 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) like other state highways in Michigan. As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. These volumes are expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2010 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-5 were the 68,793 vehicles daily between 12 and 13 Mile roads; the lowest counts were the 17,176 vehicles per day southeast of Schoolcraft Road to I-96. All of M-5 has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. The trunkline is six- or eight-lanes wide along the freeway section to the north and west of the Grand River Avenue interchange; south and east of there it is a four-lane freeway or six-lane highway all the way to I-96.