Support the Interstate 49 Lafayette connector or resign.

That’s the message delivered Tuesday to some 50 community working group members by Toby Picard, I-49 connector project manager with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Sent via email, the message comes on the heels of a contentious CWG meeting Thursday in which a few committee members suggested turning Evangeline Thruway into a “grand boulevard” instead of building a six-lane interstate next to Lafayette’s downtown and historic residential neighborhoods.

The CWG is one of three committees whose members represent local groups, neighborhoods and government entities trying to refine a preliminary design for the5.5-mile Lafayette connector, identified in a 2003 federal Record of Decision, and settle on a single option to move forward.

Picard’s message reminded the CWG that the goal is to “develop a refined concept” to the route approved in the ROD.

“We want to ensure that all group members are committed to working together collaboratively toward that end,” he wrote.

Picard gave CWG members until May 15 to let DOTD know “if for any reason you cannot constructively continue to fulfill your CSS (Context Sensitive Solutions) Group responsibilities within these parameters and should choose to not continue as a CSS Group member” so DOTD can appoint “a suitable replacement.”

His letter continues that the I-49 Lafayette connector has to be a freeway, not a boulevard, and must follow the route outlined in the 2003 ROD.

Picard also set out new guidelines for CWG meeting discussions, saying all group members “will have an equal voice,” and meetings will be facilitated “to stay on topic and on time.”