routes.js

var routes = [
    '/partials': {
        accessLevel: access.admin,  // Access level for all /partials sub routes
        subRoutes: [{
            
            // Full URL: /partials/
            '/': {
                templateUrl: 'partials/index',
                controller:  partialsCtrl
            },
            
            // Full URL: /partials/hello
            '/hello': {
                templateUrl: 'partials/hello',
                controller:  partialsHelloctrl
            }
        }]
    },
    '/public': {
        accessLevel: access.public,  // Access level for all /public subroutes
        subRoutes: [{
            
            // Full URL: /public/
            '/': {
                templateUrl: 'public/index',
                controller:  publicCtrl
            },
            
            // Full URL: /public/hello
            '/hello': {
                templateUrl: 'public/hello',
                controller:  publicHelloCtrl
            }
        }]
    }
];

// Register the declared routes
// I use underscore to improve readability
_.each(routes, function(route, rootUrl) {
    _.each(route.subRoutes, function(subRoute, subUrl) {
        $routeProvider.when(rootUrl + subUrl, 
        {
            templateUrl: subRoute.templateUrl,
            controller: subRoute.controller,
            access: route.accessLevel
        });
    });
});

are you not missing curly bracket before '/partials' ? How can you then loop through route.subRoutes ?