A desire path is a route made evident by foot traffic, often easier or more direct than a provided avenue:

A holloway is a sunken lane formed by traffic or erosion — some in Europe date to the Iron Age:

A snowy neckdown is a disused area of a roadway made evident by snowfall:

In the absence of snow, some Australian engineers have dusted intersections with cake flour to reveal traffic patterns. Others study the oil stains left by traffic. Dan Burden, director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, says, “I call something like that highway forensics.”