Despite funding increases for MDOT by the State Legislature, M-275 languished on the drawing boards. New plans in 1983 had addressed several of the environmental concerns by moving interchanges and rerouting around wetlands. These plans even canceled an extension of Northwestern Highway (then M-4, now part of M-10) to Pontiac Trail and a connection with M-275. The state increased MDOT's budget by $602 million (equivalent to $ in ), but left the M-275 project off a priority list. The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) continued to factor M-275 into regional transportation planning forecasts. SEMCOG's position was that the location population that would be served by the new highway would rival 70 of Michigan's counties combined, yet there was no four-lane highways through the area. Opponents cited urban sprawl, which SEMCOG dismissed because the population was already in the area of the new highway. Transportation planners at an April 24, 1985, meeting of the West Bloomfield Republicans said that the highway extension "would make sense" but MDOT "is planning no new freeways and no major road construction" at the time. By the next month, MDOT had relinquished ownership of right-of-way in West Bloomfield Township, ending any further progress at building the roadway. Studies comparing the levels of traffic at various checkpoints along the existing I-275 showed that the freeway was only handling half of its rated capacity. At 8 Mile Road, the freeway carried 57,000 vehicles in 1977 and 88,000 vehicles in 1984. This compared to a 1986 projection of 133,000 vehicles daily.