What to do with the rundown, dangerous and divisive Evangeline Thruway is a critical open question facing state transportation officials planning an elevated interstate connection through the heart of Lafayette. The Department of Transportation and Development is considering two options: keep the basic structure in place as a frontage road, or reinvent a portion of the roadway as a pedestrian-friendly “Grand Boulevard.” The thruway cordoned neighborhoods to the east when it was built in 1963, and the boulevard idea aims to reconnect those neighborhoods to downtown commerce. State officials and their consultants said a decision will come within a year....