To make RNAs, which can be as long as a million nucleotides, RNA polymerases must overcome many challenges, from DNA-bound protein roadblocks to termination factors that induce premature RNA release. The Artsimovitch Lab and their collaborators at Bayreuth and Freie Universities in Germany and at Emory University (USA) used a combination of biochemistry, genetics, cryo-electron microscopy, and single-molecule analyses to investigate how Escherichia coli RNA polymerase bypasses roadblocks and how accessory factors help it to evade early termination. Three studies published in Nature Communications in April show that RNA polymerase can displace a roadblock from the DNA by repeatedly ramming into it (https://rdcu.be/dEAeQ); depict a life cycle of a universally-conserved transcription factor RfaH (https://rdcu.be/dD8VM); and reveal how an Sm-like protein Rof inactivates the termination factor Rho (https://rdcu.be/dEL8F).