Here's something that doesn't happen every day — the price of the county's proposed airport has dropped.

In a preliminary draft of the economic study, WK Dickson Co. put the cost to build a general aviation airport at $45.8 million. But Cherokee County Councilman and airport commission member Bailey Humphries said that figure has fallen to $38 million after the engineering firm acquiesced to the state aeronautic officials' suggestion the study adopt the airport design developed in a previous economic study.

Dickson's proposed design would have added to the site preparation costs by bisecting a ridge on the proposed Milliken site in Blacksburg. The previous design followed the contour of the ridge line, according to Humphries.

The new cost estimate is welcome news for the Cherokee County Transportation Committee, which has argued that Dickson's figures were too high.

Dickson along with engineering firm Wilbur Smith Associates were paid $50,000 by the county to develop a conceptual plan, including site selection, layout, quantify the costs and benefits and identify the developmental impact on job creation. The remainder of the study cost was picked up by the state.

Humphries said he expects Dickson to complete the final version of the economic report in the next couple weeks.