PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Anyone who has ever had the displeasure of sitting in their car on Green Tree Hill trying to get to the Fort Pitt Tunnel certain can understand why some drivers look for escape routes.

That is exactly what Green Tree Road has been for years.

Winding down into Pittsburgh’s West End, the two-lane road is a series of curves on a grade rated at 7 percent, enough to warrant a warning to truckers.

But for some time now, trucks over 14,000 pounds have been banned from the hill, which is a restriction widely ignored.

Charlie Leonard lives directly across from the seven-ton weight limit sign, and says he still sees trucks going down the hill, “all day, everything from delivery trucks to full size big rigs.”

Pittsburgh police say they don’t have the manpower to put an officer at the bottom of the hill to ticket every truck.

Instead, the city will ask PennDOT to put up more signs at the top of Green Tree Road warning truckers that rigs over seven tons are prohibited beyond South Bee Street.

PennDOT says once it gets the request that must document the need, it will do an engineering study and determine what signs, if any, are needed.

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