diff --git a/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/common.sh b/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/common.sh
index 3cb6f1a45..bb55a466c 100644
--- a/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/common.sh
+++ b/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/common.sh
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ mwan3_init()
 		LOG debug "Max interface count is ${MWAN3_INTERFACE_MAX}"
 	fi
 
+	# remove "linkdown", expiry and source based routing modifiers from route lines
+	MWAN3_ROUTE_LINE_EXP="s/linkdown //; s/expires [0-9]\+sec//;s/error [0-9]\+//; ${source_routing:+s/default\(.*\) from [^ ]*/default\1/;} p"
+
 	# mark mask constants
 	bitcnt=$(mwan3_count_one_bits MMX_MASK)
 	mmdefault=$(((1<<bitcnt)-1))
diff --git a/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/mwan3.sh b/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/mwan3.sh
index 26bdcbcd2..6821b8503 100644
--- a/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/mwan3.sh
+++ b/net/mwan3/files/lib/mwan3/mwan3.sh
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ mwan3_get_routes()
 	local source_routing
 	config_get_bool source_routing globals source_routing 0
 	[ $source_routing -eq 0 ] && unset source_routing
-	$IP route list table main | sed -ne "/^linkdown/T; s/expires \([0-9]\+\)sec//;s/error [0-9]\+//; ${source_routing:+s/default\(.*\) from [^ ]*/default\1/;} p" | uniq
+	$IP route list table main | sed -ne "$MWAN3_ROUTE_LINE_EXP" | uniq
 }
 
 mwan3_create_iface_route()
diff --git a/net/mwan3/files/usr/sbin/mwan3rtmon b/net/mwan3/files/usr/sbin/mwan3rtmon
index 6ece58125..e460615ed 100755
--- a/net/mwan3/files/usr/sbin/mwan3rtmon
+++ b/net/mwan3/files/usr/sbin/mwan3rtmon
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ mwan3_add_all_routes()
 
 mwan3_rtmon_route_handle()
 {
-	local action route_line family tbl device line route_line_exp tid source_routing
+	local action route_line family tbl device line tid source_routing
 
 	route_line=${1##"Deleted "}
 	route_family=$2
@@ -79,29 +79,25 @@ mwan3_rtmon_route_handle()
 
 	if [ "$route_line" = "$1" ]; then
 		action="replace"
-		route_line_exp="s/expires \([0-9]\+\)sec//;s/error [0-9]\+//; ${source_routing:+s/default\(.*\) from [^ ]*/default\1/}"
 		$IPS -! add mwan3_connected_${route_family##ip} ${route_line%% *}
 	else
 		action="del"
-		route_line_exp="s/expires [0-9]\+sec//;s/error [0-9]\+//; ${source_routing:+s/default\(.*\) from [^ ]*/default\1/}"
 		mwan3_set_connected_${route_family}
 	fi
 
+	if [ -z "${route_line##*linkdown*}" ]; then
+		LOG debug "attempting to add link on down interface - $route_line"
+	fi
+
 	if [ "$route_family" = "ipv4" ]; then
 		IP="$IP4"
 	elif [ "$route_family" = "ipv6" ] && [ $NO_IPV6 -eq 0 ]; then
 		IP="$IP6"
-		route_line=$(echo "$route_line" | sed "$route_line_exp")
 	else
 		LOG warn "route update called with invalid family - $route_family"
 		return
 	fi
-
-	# don't try to add routes when link has gone down
-	if [ -z "${route_line##linkdown*}" ]; then
-		LOG debug "not adding route due to linkdown - skipping $route_line"
-		return
-	fi
+	route_line=$(echo "$route_line" | sed -ne "$MWAN3_ROUTE_LINE_EXP")
 
 	handle_route() {
 		local iface=$1