Most people want the historic Ballarat thoroughfare of Lydiard Street to reopen as soon as possible, the results of a poll suggest.
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Of four options presented to readers, the greatest number of respondents said their preference would be for temporary automated boom gates to be installed while a permanent solution to the historic gates is investigated.
That accounted for 115 votes, or 42.44 per cent of the 271 collected in an online survey among subscribers and readers this week.
The second most popular option - at 83 votes (31 per cent) - was to open the road, install permanent automated boom gates, and put replica heritage gates on display.
This would in effect be similar to what is in place at the railway crossing on Humffray Street, where heritage gates are visible at the side of the crossing.
A third option to keep the street closed until manually operated replica heritage gates are reinstalled received 56 votes (21 per cent of the total)
A final option to close Lydiard Street and keep the heritage gates in place permanently was only supported by six per cent of respondents.
It means close to three-quarters of those taking part said they would prefer the road to be re-opened as soon as possible.
The southern gates, part of a heritage swing gate system dating back to the late 19th century, were destroyed by a runaway train late on May 30.
The road has been closed since.
An interim report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau detailed a series of "wheel slides" when the driver tried braking in the run-up to the crash.
A final report with conclusions on safety issues is due late this year.
No solution, either permanent or interim, has yet been presented by transport executives almost 11 months since the accident took place.
There has been widespread community condemnation of the delay in addressing the closure of the street, and communication about what is happening to the gates, which were within the heritage-listed station precinct. The gates were run by an anachronistic system that was operated separately to the automated boom gates across the rest of the rail network.
Representatives from V/Line and the Department of Transport were due to meet the City of Ballarat on Wednesday evening.
