The first dated back to the origins of the state highway system in 1919 and ran between Grand Rapids and Lansing.

Afterwards, it was extended to end at M-85 (Fort Street) before a change in the 1980s gave the trunkline its present termini.

M-39 begins at Lafayette Boulevard a block east of its junction with I-75 in Lincoln Park along Southfield Road, which continues east-southeasterly past the start of the M-39 designation under local maintenance.

From there the road is a six-lane boulevard through residential areas as it runs west-northwesterly to pass under I-75[4][5] and an adjacent Conrail Shared Assets Operations rail line.

There is a second, adjacent interchange that connects to Van Born Road, and the freeway winds its way northeasterly through Dearborn.

The freeway is bordered by service drives that carry one-way traffic and bear the Southfield Road name on either side.

Near Greenfield Village, the freeway curves to the northwest around the Ford Proving Grounds before turning to the north, a direction it will maintain until the end of its run.

The freeway crosses the River Rouge, passes under the line used by the Amtrak Wolverine,[6] and meets US Highway 12 (US 12, Michigan Avenue) next to the Fairlane Town Center and Ford Motor Company's world headquarters in Dearborn near the campus of the University of Michigan–Dearborn.

As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction.

MDOT's surveys in 2010 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-39 were the 159,400 vehicles daily between Schoolcraft Road and Grand River Avenue in Detroit; the lowest counts were the 20,400 vehicles per day between the I-94 and Van Born Road interchanges.

[21] The highway designation was extended southeasterly along Southfield Road to the new I-75 freeway and a terminus at M-85 (Fort Street) in 1966.