The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently unveiled its plan to reduce truck crashes along Route 93 at the base of the Broad Mountain by banning trucks entirely.

But a pair of state legislators question the need to include traffic traveling up the hill as part of the ban.State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne, and state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne, Carbon, both wrote letters to PennDOT last week, formally asking that it reconsider banning trucks traveling northbound on Route 93."This is about the northbound, just to investigate it and see if it's possible to try and appease some of the potential problems with the businesses," Bill Richards, Yudichak's district director for Carbon County, said.The request came after a conference call during which PennDOT officials announced plans to ban large tractor-trailers from Route 93 between Hazleton and Nesquehoning.The ban applies only to 106-inch-wide tractor-trailers, the widest on the road.PennDOT is trying to eliminate runaway tractor-trailers crashing at the base of the Broad Mountain - something that happened three times over the course of three days last spring.The ban was announced earlier this month, and is set to go into effect sometime this spring.Toohil said that she was unaware that northbound trucks would be banned.She called the meeting last week so that stakeholders from the Hazleton area could learn more about PennDOT's plans.Rep. Doyle Heffley had a staffer at the meeting. He said by phone on Tuesday that he also had questions about banning uphill traffic, but was waiting for more information before making a formal request."I haven't sent a letter, but I do agree, I'm a little confused as to what the reasoning is to restrict northbound traffic," Heffley said.PennDOT engineer Dennis Toomey said that while uphill traffic doesn't pose a safety risk, the agency was concerned about a one-way ban being confusing for drivers.An outright ban is easier to communicate to the trucking industry, he said."The main reason is for simplicity's sake - for minimizing misunderstanding or confusion - we wouldn't want to see a regional driver thinking 'it was OK for me to come here via 93, what's wrong with going back via 93,'" Toomey said.Toomey said that PennDOT considered a one-way ban, but ultimately settled on both ways. However, based on the legislators' request, he would research further."After reviewing that, it was our judgment to make it both directions, and that's what our district exec was supporting. I don't want to make any promises, but I will go back, I will look at everything and discuss it with our district executive," Toomey said.