NEW SEWICKLEY TWP, Beaver County —- Tractor trailers and other heavy trucks coming from and going to Cranberry Township from Route 65 in Beaver County will have to use the established truck route or face fines.

New 6-foot tall heavy truck restriction signs were installed on Freedom Crider Road front and center during a news conference Wednesday afternoon by state Department of Transportation and local law enforcement officials.

Officials hope the new oversized signs will direct truck traffic to use the alternative route.

The signs and route directional signs are at five intersections along the truck route.

Trucks exceeding the posted 10-ton weight limit traveling west on Freedom Crider Road, which connects to Freedom Road in Cranberry, must use the designated route. Weight restrictions begin shortly after crossing from Cranberry into Beaver County.

Law enforcement officials said Freedom Crider Road is often used as a shortcut from Cranberry to Route 65 even though the road is winding, narrow and steep.

“We have implemented this new truck route to stop large trucks from using Freedom Crider Road to Freedom borough,” said PennDOT District 11 executive Dan Cessna. “Operators who continue to use this road jeopardize not only their safety, but the safety of every motorist they encounter.”

There's a 10-ton limit west of the Route 989 intersection.

“Trucks are using that route illegally as a shortcut from Cranberry to Route 65,” said Cessna, who added many of the violations are out of innocence by truck drivers.

Many of those are from out of town and unaware of the weight limits and established truck route, said Cessna. Officials hope the new oversized signs will help those truckers.

Police Chief Eugene St. Clair of the Freedom Police Department said there have been eight reportable crashes since 2007 along the Freedom Crider Road corridor.

There also have been increases in the number of overweight violations reported in a several municipalities in recent months. St. Clair said the Freedom department has issued 36 citations since September.

Police Chief Ron Leindecker of the New Sewickley Township Police Department said the truck drivers who have been cited for overweight vehicles said their GPS units led them to use the weight limit section of Freedom Crider Road.

Sara Walfoort, Pennsylvania Southwest Planning Commission's transportation planning manager, said commercial GPS devices list national truck routes so that truck drivers are driving on weight-restricted roads.

However, she pointed out that smaller companies or independent operators may buy the typical motorist driver GPS units that are less expensive and many do not list the truck routes.