Google will pay Louisville millions to fix roads after failed Fiber experiment

Google has agreed to pay the Louisville Metro Government $3.84 million over the next 20 months to repair the damage caused to the city by its ill-fated Google Fiber service. The money will be used by local authorities to remove the company’s infrastructure from the city’s roads and to repave areas where needed after the service ceased operation April 15. ”Infrastructure in neighborhoods and public properties affected by Google Fiber will look as good or better than they did before the company began construction,” according to Louisville Metro’s Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology Grace Simrall.

The company’s problems in Louisville stem from its decision to lay its cabling just inches beneath the road’s surface, in part because incumbents like AT&T attempted to block Google from sharing its utility poles. Unfortunately, this “shallow trenching” method meant that the cabling became exposed and damaged over time, and eventually Google Fiber decided to end the service rather than have to rebuild the entire network.