A 67-YEAR-OLD male cyclist died after crashing into the back of a parked tractor-trailer on the side of Kenaston Boulevard, near Waverley Street, on Friday.

The cyclist was riding at high speed when he collided with the rear of the trailer, which had its hazard lights activated on the northbound shoulder, shortly before 2:30 p.m., the Winnipeg Police Service said.

“It’s always tragic. You feel for the family,” said Mark Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg, which advocates for increased cycling awareness and safety in the city.

“The bottom line is it’s just tragic,” said local Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West).

The WPS provided limited information in a news release Tuesday. Police would not provide more details about the cause of the crash, which is being investigated by the traffic division.

The cyclist’s name was not released. His family has been notified, police said.

He is at least the second cyclist to be killed on Winnipeg’s roads in as many months. Police wouldn’t say if the man was wearing a helmet.

The crash happened on a stretch of Kenaston that has one separated cycling route (on the west side) north of Waverley, and none to the south between Waverley and the Perimeter Highway.

While details are limited, the incident points to a gap in Winnipeg’s active transportation network, and the importance of separated lanes for cyclists, said Cohoe.

“You don’t have a pathway in that section,” he said. “It just showcases that we want to have a separation on those roadways.”

There are plans to build a separated lane on the east side of Kenaston north of Waverley, said Lukes, chair of city hall’s public works committee.

She said there are currently no plans for bike routes on Kenaston between Waverley and the Perimeter, given the province’s previously announced plans to build a bypass in the area.

“When the St. Norbert bypass comes into play, then stuff like (bike lanes) will happen,” said Lukes.

In 2015, the former NDP government said construction of a new $400-million route bypassing St. Norbert — by linking Kenaston and Highway 75 — would begin in five years and be completed within 10 years.

The proposal included a cloverleaf interchange at Kenaston and the Perimeter.

Almost 10 years later, no construction has taken place.

The NDP lost the 2016 provincial election to the Progressive Conservatives, who ordered studies and held public information sessions while in government. The Tories lost last year’s election to the NDP.

A provincial spokesperson said a 2020 design study proposed an interchange at Kenaston and the Perimeter as part of the long-term Winnipeg One Million Perimeter Freeway Initiative.

Active transportation routes were considered in the study, the spokesperson said. 

Cyclists rallied in Winnipeg last month to call on the city to make streets safer for them, following a fatal collision in June and a separate crash that injured a teenage girl. Both collisions occurred on Wellington Crescent.

Cohoe wants Winnipeg’s road-safety strategic action plan, passed by council in 2022, to be fully funded and implemented to help reduce fatal and serious injury collisions involving all road users.

“The goal of the city really needs to be that we don’t see people dying in collisions,” he said. The plan comprises 67 actions for improved safety for all road users, and a goal of reducing fatal and serious collisions by 20 per cent over five years.

Each year, Winnipeg averages 13 fatal collisions and 145 crashes resulting in serious injuries, according to city data.

Across the province, an average of four cyclists are killed and 78 are injured in collisions per year, Manitoba Public Insurance’s website stated.

A helmet was not worn in almost 90 per cent of cases in which a cyclist was killed in a collision with a vehicle, according to MPI. 

The WPS, meanwhile, is asking anyone with information about Friday’s crash or video from vehicle dashboard or home surveillance cameras to call investigators at 204-986-7085 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca