At least one transportation study in the early 1970s identified the highway north of Novi as M-275. The Oakland County Road Commission, local land developers, and local politicians supported building a highway along the route of M-275 to open up the area for development. After the January 1977 cancelation of M-275 as a full freeway, the state explored building the highway as a parkway instead. This parkway concept allowed at-grade intersections that would have not been permitted had the highway been built as a full freeway, and included more landscaping and less grade separation. In September 1977, the State Transportation Commission ordered MDOT to study alternatives to a freeway in the area, along with the possible widening of I-94 and US 23 and the improvement of local roads to handle increased traffic caused by the absence of an extended I-275 from the state's freeway network.