diff --git a/microservices/gatewayApi/tests/routes/v2/test_gateway.py b/microservices/gatewayApi/tests/routes/v2/test_gateway.py
index dd8f9ec..4e5dccd 100644
--- a/microservices/gatewayApi/tests/routes/v2/test_gateway.py
+++ b/microservices/gatewayApi/tests/routes/v2/test_gateway.py
@@ -97,3 +97,26 @@ def test_happy_with_session_cookie_gateway_call(client):
     response = client.put('/v2/namespaces/sescookie/gateway', json=data)
     assert response.status_code == 200
     assert json.dumps(response.json) == '{"message": "Sync successful.", "results": "Deck reported no changes"}'
+
+
+def test_success_mtls_reference(client):
+    configFile = '''
+        services:
+        - name: my-service
+          host: myupstream.local
+          ca_certificates: [ "0000-0000-0000-0000" ]
+          certificate: "8fc131ef-9752-43a4-ba70-eb10ba442d4e"
+          tags: ["ns.mytest", "another"]
+          routes:
+          - name: route-1
+            hosts: [ my-service.api.gov.bc.ca ]
+            tags: ["ns.mytest", "another2"]
+        '''
+
+    data={
+        "configFile": configFile,
+        "dryRun": False
+    }
+    response = client.put('/v2/namespaces/mytest/gateway', json=data)
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert json.dumps(response.json) == '{"message": "Sync successful.", "results": "Deck reported no changes"}'
diff --git a/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py b/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py
index 7401867..2690bfb 100644
--- a/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py
+++ b/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py
@@ -427,7 +427,12 @@ def validate_tags(yaml, required_tag):
         raise Exception('\n'.join(errors))
 
 def traverse(source, errors, yaml, required_tag, qualifiers):
-    traversables = ['services', 'routes', 'plugins', 'upstreams', 'consumers', 'certificates', 'ca_certificates']
+    # If at root level, allow different resources than if its traversed down a level
+    if source == "":
+        traversables = ['services', 'upstreams', 'consumers', 'certificates', 'ca_certificates']
+    else:
+        traversables = ['routes', 'plugins']
+
     for k in yaml:
         if k in traversables:
             for index, item in enumerate(yaml[k]):