A system and method is provided that facilitates collaborative development of virtual mechanical routing. A processor of the system responsive to inputs provided through at least one input device may generate a design for a routing run comprised of a set of elements and cause a distributed routing path corresponding to the routing run to be stored in a data store. The distributed routing path may be comprised of data that specifies two end elements and a plurality of routing path links that specify connections between a plurality of intermediate elements and between each end element and a respective one of the intermediate elements. The processor may also cause a display device to output a 3D representation of the routing run based at least in part on the distributed routing path stored in the data store, and data representative of the physical structures of the end elements and the intermediate elements that are specified by the routing path links of the distributed routing path.