Pyromanus' first guess was that it was something like the cord connecting players in Knuckles' Chaotix/Sonic Crackers, though that certainly doesn't happen in multiplayer. As it is, I can only presume there is some reason the cord heads towards the spot halfway between you and the event, though I don't know what it could be.

(As far as I can tell, there isn't really any similarity between this and the bridge event.. bridges tend to snap to new configurations rather instantly, while this is a much smoother process.)