fork in the road

1. Literally, the point at which one road splits or separates off into other roads. There's a fork in the road up ahead—which way should I go? OK, keep going straight until you reach the fork in the road, then turn right. The man at the gas station didn't say anything about a fork in the road, though! Am I supposed to turn left or right?

2. By extension, the point at which one must make a decision between two or more drastically different choices or opportunities. After college, I was at a real fork in the road. Should I try to find work right away, or should I got back to school to pursue a master's degree? We ran into something of a fork in a road in the middle of development. Do we listen to early user feedback and completely overhaul the game's design, or do we stick with our original plan and release the game on schedule? They're definitely at a fork in the road in their marriage if they're actively discussing separation.