In between, the trunkline passes through the northern suburbs of Metro Detroit, connects to freeways like Interstate 69 (I-69) and provides access to rural farmland.

With planning and construction during the 1950s and 1960s, the state converted portions of the road north of Detroit to have divided highway and freeway segments.

On the opposite side of the freeway interchange, Van Dyke Avenue turns due north and continues through a mix of residential and industrial areas near Coleman A.

[3][4] In this area, the highway crosses branch lines for both the Conrail Shared Assets Operations and the Canadian National Railway.

The highway is bounded by additional commercial and light industrial properties as it intersects Metropolitan Parkway (16 Mile Road).

The landscape is mostly residential subdivisions with parks and golf courses as the freeway exits Metro Detroit proper.

M-53 turns northeasterly, running as an expressway, with at-grade intersections for access at the key cross roads instead of full interchanges.

The POW/MIA Freeway designation drops at this point, and M-53 follows Van Dyke Road north and northwesterly through rural northern Macomb County.

Further north, Van Dyke Road meets I-69 in Imlay City, running through the downtown area north of the Interstate;[3][6] Imlay City is also the location of a crossing of the Canadian National Railway line that carries Amtrak's Blue Water service between Flint and Port Huron.

[3][6] In that city, the highway crosses a branch line of the Huron and Eastern Railway (HESR)[5] before continuing through downtown.

The highway follows Van Dyke Road through rural farming country past intersections with M-46 and M-81 and across the Cass River before crossing into Huron County.

Near Bad Axe, Van Dyke Road curves again, turning due east into town where it becomes Huron Street.

[7] M-53 between M-3 in Detroit and the northern M-142 junction near Bad Axe has been listed on the National Highway System,[8] a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

[9] M-53 was first designated by 1919; it started at Gratiot Avenue in Detroit running north through Centerline, and Utica to eventually end east of Elkton on M-31.

The expressway section that bypasses Romeo is known as the POW/MIA Memorial Freeway in honor of American prisoners of war and those who were and are missing in action.

When the original legislation creating a highway agency was declared unconstitutional in 1903, he kept the job in an unofficial capacity until the Legislature could rectify the situation.

The State Highway Commissioner Murray Van Wagoner designated M-53 in Earle's memory in April 1939, and the Legislature legislation two years later honoring him, but not officially naming the road.