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.

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.

The Metropolitan Council presented Wednesday the new light rail train that will travel the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line, or the "Green Line," in 2014. Although no official opening date has been set, there are hopes of beginning service by July 15, 2014 for the MLB All Star Game at Target Field.

The second-generation trains for the Hiawatha light-rail line will include better braking technology, better heating and cooling systems as well as audio capability to the video surveillance cameras.

URS Corp. of San Francisco is on a short list to receive a $100 million contract for engineering work on the light-rail line that would run from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie. The Star Tribune reports URS was a consultant on the I-35W bridge before it collapsed in 2007. Gov. Mark Dayton has expressed concerns with the firm and vowed to issue an executive order barring it from state contracts until at least all lawsuits are settled.

Nearly 150 bars, restaurants and a variety of other businesses have borrowed more than $2 million from a "forgivable" loan fund as they try to stay afloat during disruptive construction of the 11-mile Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line, the Pioneer Press reports. The line will connect the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul by 2014.

Nearly 19 percent of rail workers are minorities and nearly 10 percent are females. The report comes shortly after the contractor that built the Hiawatha light rail line was fined millions of dollars for falsifying claims about its hiring diversity.