desire line

Definitions

A path that pedestrians or vehicles take informally rather than taking a sidewalk or set route, for example, a well-worn ribbon of dirt cutting across a patch of grass, or a path in the snow.

Equivalents

Examples

“The grouping of like⟳ trips for all passenger cars, taxi-cabs and trucks resulted in 3580 desire lines, varying in volume from one trip⟳ to 5200 trips. It is obvious that if all the desire lines were illustrated graphically on one chart the result⟳ would be a maze of lines that would be confusing.”

“Study⟳ participants also drew charts of pedestrian traffic to take⟳ note⟳ of what are delightfully termed "desire lines" – paths actually made by walkers as opposed to those created on the drawing board⟳.”

“In areas with no sidewalks, beaten-down paths in the grass, known as "desire lines" in planning-speak, indicate⟳ yearning, said John La Plante, the chief traffic engineer for T. Y. Lin International, an engineering firm.”

CEFR level