US 10 runs concurrently with US 127 in the Clare area along a section of freeway that includes a welcome center in the median.

It replaced three state trunkline highways of the day: M-20, M-24, and M-10, running between Ludington on Lake Michigan and downtown Detroit.

The highway has been realigned several times during the construction of Interstate 75 (I-75) in southeast Michigan, even being temporarily designated "TO I-75" to connect segments of the I-75 freeway.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) truncated the highway to Bay City in 1986, removing it from I-75 and the Lodge Freeway.

The entire 140-mile (230 km) length has been listed on the National Highway System,[3] a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

Traffic is carried across the lake during the summer months on SS Badger, a privately owned car ferry.

[6] Heading eastward from the ferry, the highway runs along Pere Marquette Lake and then northward through a light industrial area along James Street in Ludington.

At the intersection with Ludington Avenue in the downtown business area, the trunkline turns to the east.

Near Mason County Airport, the highway intersects the northern end of Business US 31 (Bus.

About a mile and a half (2.4 km) east of that intersection, US 10 meets the interchange that marks the northern end of the US 31 freeway in the state.

[5][7] Northwest of Reed City, US 10 meets the US 131 freeway before curving around the north side of town.

The highway intersects the business loop on the east side of town and exits Reed City.

The trunkline runs parallel to the rail trail through rural country side to north of the small community of Sears before turning to the southeast.

[5][7] Immediately after the traffic lanes spread apart to form the separate carriageways of the freeway, US 10 has an interchange with M-115.

These two freeways merge and run south toward Clare, using the mileposting and exit numbering of US 127 along the concurrency.

US 10 separates from US 127 at a partial interchange south of the airport using a left exit southbound to continue on eastbound US 10.

The connections for westbound US 10 to southbound US 127 or northbound US 127 to eastbound US 10 are made using the business routes through downtown.

[5][7] The interchange that marks the southern end of the US 127/US 10 concurrency is also the place where US 10 crosses into the northeastern corner of Isabella County.

About three miles (4.8 km) east of there, US 10 has its partial interchange with the eastern end of the Clare business loop.

[5][7] After crossing the lake, the freeway runs southeasterly roughly parallel to the Tittabawassee River for about three miles (4.8 km) until the interchange with Stark Road.

US 10 turns to run due east between Airport Road to the north and Wackerly Street to the south.

Two miles (3.2 km) further east, US 10 turns to the southeast, bordered by residential subdivisions of the city of Midland to its south and vacant fields to its north.

There is a partial interchange that straddles the Midland–Bay county line that provides access to the eastern end of Bus.

Further east, there are a pair of interchanges for Auburn as the freeway runs through a landscape that is a mix of suburban residential subdivisions and farmfields.

The highway started in Ludington and ran east replacing M-20 to Midland, M-24 to Saginaw, and M-10 to Detroit.

A second change moved the highway to its present routing west of Baldwin to the Lake–Mason county line.

US 10 was signed as "TO I-75" to route traffic between the completed freeways at Bay City and Grayling by way of Clare.

That year, Woodward Avenue was redesignated M-1 and US 10 was moved to the Lodge Freeway and Telegraph Road.

The section along Dixie Highway and Telegraph Road between Pontiac and Southfield was redesignated as an extension of US 24.