GALVESTON — Jo Soske rides her rainbow-colored beach cruiser along the seawall at least once a day.

It’s fun and great for her health. But it’s not always safe.

Almost daily, she and other cyclists have to dodge cars whose drivers aren’t looking out for them, Soske said.

She said she didn’t think the island was bike friendly.

Many Galveston residents who use bikes for recreation or primary transportation probably agree.

City officials are working to change that image with a bike trail system that will provide safer routes for people who pedal around town.

The city began work on a hike and bike master plan in 2004, presenting the final map, which included improvements for both bicycles and pedestrians, two years later. But the plan has been waiting for grant funding, which has been hard to come by in recent years.

At its May 22 meeting, the city council will consider approving part of the bike plan for routes between 53^rd Street and Ferry Road, from The Strand to the seawall.

The work will be paid for mostly by Texas Department of Transportation Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds, which require a 20 percent local match.

Cost estimates total about $400,000, said Assistant City Manager Brandon Wade, which would leave the city to come up with $80,000. The council will have to set the funds aside as part of next year’s budget.

If the grant comes through, crews should begin work next summer, Wade said.

If the council approves the plan, streets running north-south that are part of the trail system will be restriped to designate a lane for parking, for cyclists and for vehicles on each side of the roadway.

Those streets include parts of 51^st, 43^rd, 39^th, 35^th, 27 ^th, 19^th, 10^th and 8^th streets.

Streets that run east-west are not wide enough for dedicated bike lanes, Wade said. They will be painted with bicycling markers and dotted with signs warning motorists to watch out for bikes.

East-west streets include parts of avenues R1/2, N1/2, P/2 and M and Ball, Church, Postoffice and Market streets.

No parking spaces will be eliminated, Wade said.

The seawall was not included in the route because it already functions as a pedestrian and bicycle path, Wade said. State rules would require it to be striped for a bike lane and marked with signage, neither of which would sit well with the public, Wade said.

The original plan included both bike lanes and sidewalks, but pedestrians will have to wait to see improvements.

Money is an obstacle — concrete for sidewalks is much more expensive than paint for bike lanes — but making room also is a problem.

The city would need to widen its right of way in many areas that don’t have sidewalks, and the work likely would require some homeowners to move back fences and give up parts of their yards.

To make the trail system comprehensive, homeowners wouldn’t have the choice of opting out, Wade told the council. City crews are studying the proposed pedestrian routes block by block to identify potential problem areas.