Greater Cincinnati's talk of "flying cars" just jumped out of the concept phase and into the construction-planning phase. Regional transportation leaders have rolled out detailed roadmaps to prep several general‑aviation airports for electric vertical‑takeoff‑and‑landing aircraft and other advanced air‑mobility vehicles, spelling out where to put the power, pavement, and vertiports to make it all work. Local reporting pegs the total price tag for the recommended upgrades at about $35.1 million across the region.
According to Local 12, the Ohio‑Kentucky‑Indiana Regional Council of Governments brought in a consultant team for the job, and OKI CEO Mark Policinski said the technology is advancing quickly and the region needs to be ready for everyday use.
The work zeroes in on a cluster of Tri‑State general‑aviation fields, including Butler County/Hogan Field, Cincinnati Municipal/Lunken Field, Clermont County Airport, Miami University Airport, Middletown/Hook Field, and Lebanon‑Warren/John Lane Field. The goal is to give each airport a practical blueprint for upgrades, construction sequencing, and grant applications, as WCPO reports.
What's in the plans
The technical roadmaps, created by a team led by WSP USA, outline a phased approach that starts on the ground and works up to full vertiport operations. The plans call for public EV charging, chargers for electric ground‑support equipment, upgraded three‑phase power, on‑site solar generation, battery storage, and conceptual vertiport locations with the pavement work needed to support charging and landings.
At Miami University Airport, for example, the roadmap lists an engineer’s opinion of probable costs across all phases of roughly $8.58 million. That figure includes line items for EV and DC fast chargers, electric ground‑support equipment, and a 300 kW eVTOL charger. The full tables and assumptions are laid out in the OKI document. Across the airports, the roadmaps also dig into site constraints, communications needs, and the emergency‑response coordination that will be required before any routine advanced air‑mobility service can get off the ground.
Federal guidance is moving alongside the local planning. The FAA’s Advanced Air Mobility Implementation Plan treats infrastructure and vertiport standards as core pieces of the rollout and emphasizes a phased, safety‑first strategy under the Innovate28 timeline, including direction on community engagement and environmental review that local planners will have to follow. The FAA plan also underscores why airports are focusing on flexible, upgradeable electrical systems instead of one‑off installations that could box them in later.
Costs and local next steps
For Butler County/Hogan Field, the WSP roadmap estimates about $7.58 million across its phased buildout, covering items such as ramp pavement, high‑capacity chargers and power‑feed upgrades. Similar individual roadmaps for the other airports carry multi‑million dollar estimates, and together those engineers’ opinions of probable costs add up to the roughly $35.1 million regional total cited in local coverage. The Butler plan is detailed in an OKI report, and the broader summary is outlined in the reporting from Local 12 and the Cincinnati Business Courier, with Local 12 providing the breakdowns referenced above.
Next steps on the local side are more paperwork than hovercar, at least for now. Airport operators are expected to use the roadmaps to chase federal and state grants, line up utility partnerships and assemble local matching funds. They will also coordinate with the FAA, fire and emergency services, and nearby communities on safety planning and noise concerns. OKI and local outlets note that the studies are meant as blueprints that airports can take straight into funding applications and construction schedules. Some near‑term pieces, such as EV chargers in parking lots and conduit to support future charging equipment, can move ahead sooner, while full vertiport buildouts are laid out as longer‑range projects to be tackled in phases.
