A federal judge says the agencies overseeing the project didn't do a good enough job in their first study on how the construction could impact local businesses, but the judge rejected a call to shut down the project.

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.

After months of work, a three-mile stretch of University Avenue in St. Paul will reopen this week. On Wednesday, University Avenue will transition back into two lanes in both directions.

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.

The owner of a popular bakery in Minneapolis won't be cooking up a new location on St. Paul's Grand Avenue. Cupcake's Kevin Vanderaa says he's fed up after the neighborhood association's complaints about a technical issue. Vanderaa also says he received no support from elected officials.

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.

Artists up and down the Central Corridor fear their thriving community could be displaced as landlords raise rents or redevelop as the light-rail train line dramatically alters the area. But city officials say the train could bring a much-needed shot of energy to University Avenue and benefit artists by bringing them more customers.