Cyclist’s death in hit-and-run prompts call for bicycle path on busy Mississauga road

The recent death of a cyclist on a busy north Mississauga road has sparked a call for a separate bicycle path along the route.

Pointing to the Aug. 23 hit-and-run death of a 22-year-old exchange student as she rode her bicycle along Airport Road in Malton and other cyclist fatalities in the same area over the years, Mississauga Ward 5 Councillor Carolyn Parrish is floating the idea of a concrete pathway for cyclists that would be separated from fast-moving cars on the busy route.

Parrish told fellow councillors and City of Mississauga staff at Wednesday’s meeting of general committee she believes a bicycle-only path on one side of Airport Road is feasible and that it’s necessary to protect, among others, the many people who use the route to bike to work in Brampton.

She noted some 5,000 or so transport trucks use the busy Airport and Derry roads corridor daily, making it a difficult and potentially dangerous outing for cyclists.

‘We’ve had several fatalities over the years…and that we seem to not be doing a lot about it really bothers me,” Parrish said at Wednesday morning’s meeting, the first such official session since late June after council’s summer break.

Geoff Wright, Mississauga’s transportation and works commissioner, told Parrish his staff will approach the Region of Peel to discuss the possibility of a bicycle path, since Airport Road is a regional road.

The young Mississauga woman killed on Aug. 23 had been in Canada studying for four months, Peel Regional Police said earlier.

The woman was struck by a car as she rode her bike northbound on Airport Road, near Morningstar Drive, at about 3:15 a.m.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A man who was wanted on a Canada-wide arrest warrant at the time of the collision has now been charged in connection with the fatal hit-and-run.