Backbone.js-based Router implementation

router.js

function Router() {

    var self = this;
    setTimeout(function() {
        window.addEventListener("popstate", _.bind(self._onStatePopped, self));

        self._activateRoute();
    }, 0);
}

_.extend(Router.prototype, {

    navigate: function(path) {

        history.pushState({}, "", path);
    },

    routes: {
        "": function(path) { /* show main page */ },
        "dashboard(/:path)": function(path) { /* show dashboard */ }
    },

    _activateRoute: function() {

        function routeToRegExp(route) {
            var optionalParam = /\((.*?)\)/g;
            var namedParam    = /(\(\?)?:\w+/g;
            var splatParam    = /\*\w+/g;
            var escapeRegExp  = /[\-{}\[\]+?.,\\\^$|#\s]/g;

            route = route
                .replace(escapeRegExp, "\\$&")
                .replace(optionalParam, "(?:$1)?")
                .replace(namedParam, function(match, optional) {
                    return optional ? match : '([^\/]+)';
                })
                .replace(splatParam, "(.*?)");
            return new RegExp("^" + route + "$");
        }

        var path = location.pathname.slice(1);

        var params;
        var route = _.find(this.routes, function(handler, route) {
            var regex = routeToRegExp(route);
            if (regex.test(path)) {
                params = _.map(regex.exec(path).slice(1), function(param) {
                    return param ? decodeURIComponent(param) : null;
                });
                return true;
            } else {
                return false;
            }
        });

        if (route) {
            route.apply(this, params);
        }
    },

    _onStatePopped: function() {

        this._activateRoute();
    }

});