A few early supporters of the rail project tell MinnPost that if they knew how bad business would get, they wouldn't have supported it in the first place. About two dozen businesses along the rail line have closed up since construction started.

Top officials in charge of the project traveled to Chicago to have a "frank discussion" with the general contractor's executives after a series of serious problems, including environmental violations, unsafe streets, delays and communication failures. Minnesota Public Radio says it reviewed hundreds of documents that spell out the problems plaguing the monumental project's first year of construction. "Things must change in 2012," one official said.

The University Avenue Betterment Association says the city isn't doing enough to help them with their struggling businesses -- trapped in the middle of the construction. St. Paul officials say they'll review their programs to help those merchants next month.

Backers of the project to build a new home for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra had hoped to start construction this spring. But they haven't raised the $75 million to pay for it, so they're pushing the timeline back a year.

Property owners along the Central Corridor light rail line expected business disruptions during the construction, but now some say the work is physically damaging their buildings. But the Metropolitan Council and its contractor say cracks in foundations and facades of the old buildings are not necessarily the result of construction work.

A project that has delivered both promise and pain to parts of St. Paul has reached the halfway point. Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (LRT) officials say the 11-mile project that will link Minneapolis and St. Paul via Washington and University avenues is 50 percent complete and on schedule to be 75 percent completed by year's end. Service is slated to begin in 2014.