Signs recently went up in the Hazleton area alerting truck drivers to the new restrictions on vehicles traveling down the Broad Mountain on Route 93 south toward Nesquehoning.

The restriction only applies to 102-inch-wide trucks, the widest on the road.Drivers looking to travel on Route 93 south from Hazleton to Nesquehoning will now have to use Route 309 southbound and Route 54 eastbound to reach the base of the Broad Mountain. Route 93 truck route signs have also been erected.Truckers have had difficulties with the 9 percent, 2½-mile grade for years.It all came to a head last year, when three trucks lost their brakes while descending the mountain into Nesquehoning. On March 31 and April 1, 2016, the rigs missed the runaway truck ramp and barreled through the routes 93-209 intersection before crashing; while on April 2, the rig driver used the runaway truck ramp, but was going so fast, his truck overshot the ramp and came to rest in the woods at the top of the incline.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had planned to prohibit the trucks from using Route 93 in both directions, but decided to continue to allow them to travel up the hill, after objections from business leaders in Hazleton, as well as Sen. John Yudichak and Rep. Tarah Toohil.The signs were put up earlier this month.