This vision was proposed by the company's marine and infrastructure general manager, Sean Bolt, at the Reimagining Otago Harbour panel discussion at the Dunedin Public Library's Dunningham Room last night.
Mr Bolt said to get trucks off that road the city would need to embrace rail as a way to transport goods to the harbour.
"The thing we have to do is recreate Dunedin as a port more cargo can go through.''
State Highway 88 connects Port Chalmers to the city and is used by about 15 freight companies to transport goods.
Last week, Port Otago said the majority of those companies agreed to a 30kmh speed limit on the Port Chalmers stretch of the 50kmh road following protests by locals.
The port's future also involved electric and hybrid equipment, including its straddle carriers and tugs, which it could have within 10 years.
"Also in the future, and I think this will be beyond my time, is unmanned ships.''
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said a cycleway was desperately needed to Port Chalmers as the highway was "one of the most dangerous roads in the country'' for cyclists.
He supported "sympathetic development'' on the harbour south of the city, including visitor accommodation, restaurants and recreation opportunities.
"Other cities which have harbours have done pretty special things with them.''
University of Otago marine science department Associate Prof Chris Hepburn said the community could not let the harbour go into incremental decline.
"I hope we can get away from the older ways of top-down management and really move to real bottom-up community engagement.''
He hoped to one day see right whales calving in the harbour.
A full house of about 150 people attended the event, part of the Dunedin Heritage Festival.
Other speakers were Otago Regional Council chief executive Peter Bodeker, Otakou runanga kaumatua Edward Ellison and Graeme Wall, of New Zealand Yachting.
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Sorry I missed this as it sounds exciting- taking trucks off road to rail and making people a priority is the way forward for residents, tourist and wildlife survival.
The same people will be bleating about the noise and frequency of trains next.
So Mr Cull, when trucks are forced off the road, there should be no need to waste $25million on the bike way. I think some other Dunedin citizens could put the money to better use. Just how many pensioner apartments could be built for that amount. How many homes could have insulation fitted? A whole bunch of real uses come to mind rather than pander to the handful of potential cyclists.
KeithMcC, handful of "potential" cyclists, eh? Are they really that hard to see? Someone's got to to pay more attention when driving around that's for sure. That alone would go a long way towards making things safer on our roads.