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I have the following piece of text for a technical/scientific paper:

"This is a significant roadblock in achieving the vision of ...

To solve this roadblock, we present ..."

However, this sounds off. Do you 'solve' a roadblock? Resolve it? Meet it? Googling gave no good suggestions, but a lot of advice for driving!

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  • Perhaps you might want to use driving metaphors? Possible ways to deal with things that block one's way are: avoid, circumvent, overcome, remove, move (out of the way), clear.
    – gschenk
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 6:22
  • Overcome a roadblock google.com/search?q=Overcome * roadblock -- (pl. copy-paste the whole link, do not click on the link, it's partially rendered)
    – Kris
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 7:52

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Perhaps you might want to use metaphors related to driving?

More general: possible ways to deal with things that block one's way are: to avoid, circumvent, left behind, overcome, step over, remove, move (out of the way), clear the path.

The last one also shows a way to avoid the roadblock in the second sentence. Any metaphor that indicates a free way in the second sentence will be connected.

With circumvent and similar expressions it is better to be careful in scientific writing, as it indicates, the roadblock is still there, we just cheated our way around it.

ps.: I find "roadblock ... achieve ... vision" not very consistent. Perhaps "roadblock ... reach ... what is envisioned" by changing a ideal (vision) to an object (that what is envisioned) it can have a place. That can be reached, unless the way to it is blocked.

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  • I believe writing advice is OT on ELU.
    – Kris
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 7:55
  • @Kris by "OT", you mean "Off topic", I believe. :)
    – NVZ ♦
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 23:33

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