Virginians upset that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is running up costs of the Dulles Rail project can blame decisions made by their state officials a few years back. The state in 2006 decided to transfer control of the project to the airports authority and now officials find themselves battling the authority over what they see as runaway costs.

“We have a project that’s being administered by an authority in which the commonwealth and its funding partners have very little say,” Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton said. “Now, some of the negative sides of the transfer are becoming quite apparent.”