A chosen way from one place to another. A route is one path among many, and choosing it excludes the rest.
Old French route, from Latin (via) rupta, literally a broken way — a road forced open through unbroken ground, from rumpere (to break); a route was first the path someone had to cut before it meant merely the path chosen.
One chosen way among the many that could have been taken — and by the word's oldest sense, choosing it is a small act of forcing a way through rather than simply picking one already there.