The southern stretch of the existing A453 runs as a non-trunk route from the A34 in north Birmingham under the M6 motorway to the A452 road, and on through Sutton Coldfield.

The original route of the A453 separates from the A5127 at the Tamworth Road junction at Doe Bank, passing under the Cross-City Line.

As the non-trunk Bonehill Road it crosses the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, where it enters the district of Tamworth.

The A51 leaves to the south at a large roundabout-shaped junction, partly Ankerdrive and Bolebridge Street, known as The Egg which straddles the River Anker, and passes the Tamworth Odeon.

Previously the A453 continued along Bonehill Road then across Lady Bridge and along Aldergate in Tamworth town centre.

Prior to the construction of the M42 the road was north of its current route, running through Castle Donington, Long Eaton and Beeston.

The A453 becomes trunk road again just north of M1 junction 23A where it joins a spur of the A42 at a roundabout on the parish boundary of Kegworth, which was built when the A42 opened.

This section of the A453 from junction 24 of the M1 to the airport was opened as the £250,000 Kegworth Link Road on 3 September 1975 by a local county councillor, Mrs Kathleen Wildsmith.

The A453 then continues as a trunk road from the M1 for the remaining 11 miles (18 km) to Nottingham, with most of its traffic originating from the A50, and the rest from the A42.

The road here became a dual carriageway in the early 1970s when the Clifton Bridge was dualled, with an exit for the B679 (the former route), for West Bridgford, and meets the A52 at an interchange.

It crosses the Trent concurrently with the A52, then exits to the east as Queens Drive where it is no longer a trunk road.

The road leaves the side of the River Trent, and heads north, where it widens and passes Landmark House of Experian, to the left, at the junction of Enterprise Way (former King's Meadow Road, for Castle Marina Park, the headquarters of Speedo International Limited and the ng2 business park).

The road widens again, and at traffic lights Waterway Street West (A6019) leaves to the right, which is the direction for through-traffic.

As of 2007 the section between the M1 motorway and Nottingham city centre required a major upgrade as it could no longer cope with the volumes of traffic that used it.

The problems are worse in term time where the light controlled pedestrian crossing at the university can stop traffic so often that the long tailbacks described are caused.

In March 2006 the Highways Agency announced plans for a £90m upgrade to this road including the construction of a dual-carriageway section between the M1 and the Crusader Public House island (near Clifton) to ease traffic congestion.

Draft Orders and an Environmental Statement for the scheme were published on 29 January 2009, with the forecast cost rising to £168m.

[8] In March 2012, the Secretaries of State for Transport and Communities and Local Government approved the proposals with some minor modifications.

[11] The 2011 Autumn Statement announced planned investment of £160m in widening the road between Nottingham, the M1 and East Midlands Airport, one of a series of supply-side measures which the government was undertaking "to rebalance and strengthen the economy in the medium term".

As of March 2015 the dual carriageway section between the M1 J24 and the Clifton park & ride is known as "Remembrance Way" in honour of the 453 British servicemen and women who at that time had lost their lives in Afghanistan.