From MichiganHighways.org:

The freeway portion of M-53 from Sterling Heights to Washington in Macomb County is the "Christopher Columbus Freeway." Plans, which were never realized, were to continue the M-53 freeway southerly via the Mound Rd corridor through Sterling Heights and Warren into Detroit to a proposed connection with an extended Davison Frwy, then on to the I-94/Edsel Ford Frwy in Detroit. A full freeway-to-freeway interchange was constructed on I-696/Walter P Reuther Frwy at Mound Rd in anticipation of the completion of the "Mound Road Freeway."