Will,
You don't say where you are entering....
As you propose using I696, I am going to guess that you plan to cross the river at the Blue Water Bridge. I think this is a good choice and the Detroit customs is always a pain even with a cleared pass port.
If all you are trying to is pass the squirrely-ness of the I94 to I75 interchange (I understand that) then you can just run I94 to I275 out past Metro Airport. That is less than 10 extra miles. There is some construction at the I94W I275S interchange, but it doesn't look bad tonight. You can check yourself when you want to.
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Ignore everything that is not Wayne or Monroe county.
Matt_C>