Louisville reaches deal with Google Fiber to repair roads, infrastructure

Google Fiber will pay Louisville more than $3 million to restore the city's roads and infrastructure, the mayor's office announced Monday, the day the company's fiber service is set to go dark. 

Over 20 months, Louisville will get $3.84 million from Google to pay for removing fiber cables and sealant, milling, paving and removing aboveground infrastructure, a news release said. 

Google Fiber, a division of the California tech giant, announced abruptly in February that it was abandoning Louisville and shutting off access to customers in mid-April. The news came after the company spent more than a year installing fiber optic cable in targeted parts of the Highlands, Newburg and Portland. 

Infrastructure in places affected by Google Fiber will look "as good or better than they did before the company began construction," Grace Simrall, Louisville's chief of civic innovation, said in a statement.

"The city will diligently repair these roads and public spaces over the 20-month period," she added.

Read this:Google Fiber is leaving Louisville, so what should customers do?

In explaining its hasty exit, Google Fiber said it encountered numerous challenges in the market that disrupted customer service, including a failed experiment burying fiber optic cable in much shallower trenches than it used in other cities. It also faced complaints from customers about torn-up pavement and yards. 

The company said in February it would continue to offer its all-fiber internet service at 18 other locations across the country. But in Louisville, it said, the fiber would go dark at 11:59 p.m. Monday, after it provided free service for two months. 

Mark Strama, general manager for Google Fiber, said in a statement that the company is happy to support Mayor Greg Fischer's digital inclusion efforts to increase internet access and digital literacy across the city. 

To that end, the company will make a $150,000 donation to the Community Foundation of Louisville's Digital Inclusion Fund, a release said, and will donate 275 refurbished computers to the Louisville Metro Housing Authority. 

"Discontinuing service in Louisville was a very difficult business decision for Google Fiber," Strama said. "And we will forever be grateful to Mayor Fischer and his team for their commitment to the residents of Louisville and their dedication to driving internet connectivity and digital inclusion across the city."

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Two years ago, Fischer had heralded Google Fiber's arrival as a sign of the city's strides in innovation.

"Google Fiber's investment puts Louisville in an exclusive club of cities, and it's a win for all of us because we're focused not on keeping up with changes in the 21st century, but leaping ahead," Fischer said at the time.

Since the February announcement that the service would be pulled from Louisville, Fischer's team has sought to couch the demise in a better light, arguing its presence caused other internet service providers to offer faster options. 

Simrall reiterated that idea Monday: "It's clear that Google Fiber's presence in Louisville led other providers to step up and increase investment in Louisville, and that was good news for consumers everywhere." 

Still, Simrall previously told reporters that officials were "taken by surprise" by the exit announcement. As recently as January, Louisville Metro officials had been assured by the local Google Fiber team that the technology company wouldn't leave. 

Google Fiber wrote in a goodbye post that the lessons it learned in Louisville "made us better in our other Google Fiber cities." 

More: AT&T and Spectrum seeking to snag subscribers as Google Fiber leaves 

Simrall said in February that Louisville Metro officials never intended for Louisville to be used as a guinea pig or experiment. 

"We did it with the best of intentions, meaning that if this succeeded, we would leapfrog other communities," Simrall said. "It is challenging, when you're trying a new construction technique at the scale we were trying, but nonetheless, we approached it with the best of intentions." 

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/darcyc.