Nice and simple idea for path shortening. More time consuming than shifting rifts around, though.
A branching idea: changing the per session path blocks into destructible ones could make it a cost decision for the player. Spend dynamite to spare yourself from detouring.
In early game players would opt to go around and not waste resources, and for endgame farming players would make full use of the shortcuts. Perhaps also be per session, requiring to “pay the toll” (to shave off 5-10s) every run.