The NSW government faces a race against time to build the next stages of the city's network of bike paths before construction starts on the central Sydney light rail line.

The latest bike count figures show the rate of growth in cycling through the city is slowing, even as the raw number of cyclists continues to increase, with government officials attributing the slowing growth to a failure to add to the city's hodgepodge of paths.

There is planning underway for three new cycleways.

Under an agreement with the City of Sydney Council, the Baird government has said it will try to build three new paths through central Sydney before the middle of next year, when George Street is planned to close to traffic for construction works.

Closing George Street will have a major impact on traffic through the city, which is dire at the best of times, and the government wants to avoid running multiple disruptive construction projects at the same time.