pinch pointnoun [ C ]
a place where a road or path becomes narrow, or a place where there is often a lot of traffic, causing the traffic to slow down or stop:
State Route 78 through North County is full of pinch points.
Chicanes are barriers placed on the sides of roads to create pinch points that force vehicles to slow down.
See also
bottleneck
a point in a process where there are difficulties and the process slows down or stops:
Emergency rooms are now the pinch point in a mental health system that's not functioning very well.
There are many possible pinch points in the schedule.
See also
bottleneck