Highland Road widens out into a boulevard south of the county airport before the roadway reaches Grand River Avenue.

The boulevard section ends near Thompson Lake and M-59 continues east through rural Livingston County as a two-lane highway crossing forested and residential areas.

Running through the Highland State Recreational Area, M-59 swings to the north through rural Oakland County's lake country which comprises several lakes in dense forest lands and residential subdivisions that form the northern edge of the Metropolitan Detroit area.

Near Brendel Lake and the Alpine Valley Ski Area, Highland Road narrows back to two lanes for the final time.

The narrowed roadway continues east, crossing the southern edge of Pontiac Lake in the state recreational area of the same name.

Highland Road begins to curve back to the south through denser suburbs as it approaches the outskirts of Pontiac.

Eastbound M-59 continues along Huron Street into downtown Pontiac where it crosses the northern end of Woodward Avenue, which is part of the two business loops that encircle the central business district while westbound M-59 bypasses downtown Pontiac as it follows the northern loop of Woodward.

To the east of the former stadium in Auburn Hills is the cloverleaf interchange with I-75 and the North American corporate headquarters of car maker Chrysler.

Continuing east through the northern Detroit suburbs, the M-59 freeway curves back to the south and crosses into Macomb County at the Dequindre Road interchange.

[3][4] Trucks carrying explosive or flammable cargo are required to exit the M-59 freeway and use the parallel service drive through the Mound Road-Merrill Road interchange just west of Utica.

[5] The M-59 freeway crosses the border between Sterling Heights and Shelby Township and ends at Van Dyke Avenue in Utica, where M-59 becomes a boulevard called Hall Road.

M-59 ends at the freeway interchange with I-94 while Rosso Highway continues along the northern edge of Selfridge Air National Guard Base to Lake St.