It's not just a desire path but also a shortcut that saves you 7km. They are trying to block it but it's coming back on the side.
Edit:
Update, how it's going...
7km upgrades this to a Demand path.
7 kilometers‽ Why isn't there any normal path connection there?
There are plans for a road about 100m away but funny enough, one side belongs to a township developer and the other part to another. The 2 parts do not meet. One side is complete (up to their side of the project) and the other has been blocked with a construction hoarding for the past 2 years.
With the project not seeing completion anytime soon, people started to find their own ways around it.
I totally didn't frantically Google to see just how bad that is but oh my goodness that's insane if they think people are just going to go "whelp it's closed time to go that far!" like damn shorter distances don't have a chance, they certainly don't have a snowballs chance in hell!
Desire paths Desire paths can be paths created as a consequence of erosion caused by human or animal foot-fall or traffic. The paths usually represent the shortest or most easily navigated routes between origins and destinations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path