Complex sentence: Linking Alsace to Lorraine along the route through Villé and Urbeis, the route had commercial significance in that it provided an alternative route for the important trade in salt from nearby deposits in the eastern part of Lorraine.
Split into simpler sentences: Linking Alsace to Lorraine along the route through Villé and Urbeis. The route would have had commercial significance in that it provided an alternative route for the important trade in salt from nearby deposits in the eastern part of Lorraine.