Back to Previous Route: M-152

On to Next Route: M-154

Western Terminus:	M-14 at Exit 10 east of Ann Arbor
Eastern Terminus:	US-12/Michigan Ave at I-94 Exit 210 on the western edge of the City of Detroit
Length:	25.197 miles
Maps:	Route Map of M-153
Notes:	M-153 is known as Ford Rd for its entire length. While most would logically assume the road's namesake was Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, the road was actually named for Henry Ford's father, an area farmer, political officeholder and community figure. The Fords had settled on land in Dearborn near present-day M-153. Not coincidentally, the present-day Ford Motor Company World Headquarters (known locally as the "Glass House") is located just south of M-153/Ford Rd in Dearborn.
	In the 1930s, M-153 was proposed to be the first leg in an overall "Detroit-Chicago Superhighway" which was to "eventually provide a new route across the State, keeping away from the centers of the larger cities." It could be considered a direct, albeit somewhat distant, forerunner of today's I-94.
	In "State Trunkline Needs, 1960–1980," a set of maps prepared by the State Highway Dept's Office of Planning, Programming Division in 1960 showing possible additions, upgrades and improvements to the state trunkline system over the ensuing twenty years, MSHD staff recommended just two changes to the route of M-153. FIrst, the conversion of M-153/Ford Rd into a four (or more) lane divided highway through Dearborn, which was accomplished in the early 1970s. Second, a new connection to the proposed M-14 freeway connecting Ann Arbor and Livonia was proposed which also happened, a decade earlier, in the mid-1960s.
History:	1930 (Dec 2) – A 47.4-mile long state trunkline highway route is officially established as part of the proposed "Detroit-Chicago Superhighway" eventually linking the two cities with a re-engineered "super" highway largely on new alignment. The concept of freeways, as they came to be known later in the 20th Century, had not yet fully coalesced and this proposed route was planned as a 40-foot wide (or wider, in places) concrete highway, engineered to the highest existing standards. According to a Detroit Free Press January 14, 1934 article, the new route "will eventually provide a new route across the State, keeping away from the centers of the larger cities."       The first segment of the "Detroit-Chicago Superhighway", as officially established on this date, begins at US-112/Michigan Ave & Wyoming Ave between Detroit and Dearborn and continues westerly along Ford Rd to Canton Center Rd, then continues due westerly along an unconstructed alignment into Washtenaw Co to US-12/Plymouth Rd just northeast of Dixboro. The route then continued due westerly for an additional four miles before curving southwesterly as it crossed the Ann Arbor Railroad (present-day Great Lakes Central Railroad) north of Ann Arbor, continuing to US-12/Jackson Rd at Zeeb Rd west of Ann Arbor. The "superhighway" route continues westerly for ¾ mile along US-12/Jackson Rd for nearly 14 miles to just southwest of Sylvan. There, the route curved west-northwesterly for two miles, crossing existing US-12 and the Michigan Central RR before turning due westerly for an additional mile to the Washtenaw/Jackson Co line. From there, the "superhighway" route continues west on a gently curving alignment passing north of Riley Lake, between Grass and Tims Lakes and south of Goose Lake to the present-day intersection of Sargent Rd & Ann Arbor Rd northeast of Jackson. The highway route then turns southwesterly along present-day BL I-94/Ann Arbor Rd to Michigan Ave and then via Michigan Ave to the eastern Jackson city limit.       From the outset, the portion of the "Detroit-Chicago Superhighway" along Ford Rd from US-12/Michigan Ave westerly to Canton Center Rd in Canton Twp and on to US-12 at Dixboro northeast of Ann Arbor is designated M-153, but state highway officials hoped to have Ford Rd designated as a "federal route," likely meaning transferring the US-12 designation from Plymouth Rd to the north onto Ford Rd. West of Ann Arbor, the highway officials planned to move the US-12 designation to the new route as it was completed and opened to traffic.
	1933 (Summer) – M-153/Ford Rd from Canton Center Rd in western Wayne Co westerly to Napier Rd on the Wayne/Washtenaw Co line is completed and opened to traffic as a 20-foot concrete roadway on a 120-foot right-of-way. The grading for the segment of M-153 from Napier Rd to US-12/Plymouth Rd near Dixboro is underway with an anticipated completion in a year.
	1934 (July) – The 20-foot concrete pavement is laid on M-153/Ford Rd from the Wayne/Washtenaw Co line westerly to US-12/Plymouth Rd near Dixboro and the signed, open highway now officially terminates at that point while plans for the northerly bypass of Ann Arbor are being finalized.
	1935 (Jan 7) – The portion of the M-153 northern bypass of Ann Arbor—officially established as a state trunkline in late 1930, but not yet constructed—is officially cancelled as a state trunkline highway route. The western end of the existing highway now officially becomes the western terminus of the route as well. The cancelled bypass, however, would come back in the 1940s as a northerly US-12 bypass of Ann Arbor with the western half actually being constructed, with some modifications, as the M-14 freeway between I-94 and BUS US-23/N Main St.
	1965 (Mar 31) – On the same date the portion of the M-14 freeway is officially established as a state trunkline highway from US-23 northeast of Ann Arbor to M-153, a new divided highway alignment of M-153 is similarly established from its existing alignment at Frains Lake Rd northwesterly to the end of the new freeway at Plymouth Rd. This completes a seamless connection with the new freeway. The former route of M-153 via Ford Rd westerly to Plymouth Rd is turned back to local control.
	1973 (Dec 14) – M-153/Ford Rd is reconstructed to freeway standards from Artesian St/Auto Club Dr (halfway between M-39/Southfield Frwy and Evergreen Rd) westerly to Golfview Dr, including interchanges at Evergreen Rd and Edward N Hines Dr, on the Dearborn/Detroit and Dearborn/Dearborn Heights city limit. The former westbound lanes of M-153 from Artesian St to just east of Evergreen Rd is renamed Altar Rd and remains an unsigned state trunkline for the time being, while the remainder of the former highway is either abandoned or is obliterated under the new construction.
	1980 (Feb 9) – The segment of the M-14 freeway from M-153 northeasterly to the Washtenaw/Wayne Co line is officially certified as a state trunkline highway and likely opens to traffic in the same timeframe. Thus, the route of M-153 is extended a very short distance along the former stub of M-14 freeway from Plymouth Rd to meet with the M-14 freeway.
	1985 (Jan 15) – The remaining segment of the former westbound lanes of M-153/Ford Rd bypassed by the Evergreen Rd interchange construction in 1973, Altar Rd, is finally cancelled as a state trunkline and turned back to city control.
Controlled Access:	No portion of M-153 exists as freeway although the short portion of the route in Dearborn from from Golfview Dr easterly to Artesian St/Auto Club Dr is a limited-access expressway.
NHS:	The portion of M-153 from Canton Center Rd in Canton Twp to it eastern terminus in Detroit is on the National Highway System (NHS).
Photographs:
Weblinks:

Back to M-152

Route Listings Home

On to M-154