diff --git a/routing/errors.go b/routing/errors.go
index 3beac229..a8bd6fba 100644
--- a/routing/errors.go
+++ b/routing/errors.go
@@ -34,15 +34,6 @@ func (e *routerError) Error() string {
 // A compile time check to ensure routerError implements the error interface.
 var _ error = (*routerError)(nil)
 
-// newErr creates a routerError by the given error description and its
-// corresponding error code.
-func newErr(code errorCode, a interface{}) *routerError {
-	return &routerError{
-		code: code,
-		err:  errors.New(a),
-	}
-}
-
 // newErrf creates a routerError by the given error formatted description and
 // its corresponding error code.
 func newErrf(code errorCode, format string, a ...interface{}) *routerError {
diff --git a/routing/pathfind_test.go b/routing/pathfind_test.go
index deaccb28..de7c16c6 100644
--- a/routing/pathfind_test.go
+++ b/routing/pathfind_test.go
@@ -36,12 +36,6 @@ const (
 	// connecting them.
 	basicGraphFilePath = "testdata/basic_graph.json"
 
-	// excessiveHopsGraphFilePath is a file path which stores the JSON dump
-	// of a graph which was previously triggering an erroneous excessive
-	// hops error. The error has since been fixed, but a test case
-	// exercising it is kept around to guard against regressions.
-	excessiveHopsGraphFilePath = "testdata/excessive_hops.json"
-
 	// specExampleFilePath is a file path which stores an example which
 	// implementations will use in order to ensure that they're calculating
 	// the payload for each hop in path properly.
@@ -443,8 +437,7 @@ func createTestGraphFromChannels(testChannels []*testChannel, source string) (
 	addNodeWithAlias := func(alias string, features *lnwire.FeatureVector) (
 		*channeldb.LightningNode, error) {
 
-		keyBytes := make([]byte, 32)
-		keyBytes = []byte{
+		keyBytes := []byte{
 			0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
 			0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
 			0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,