LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The 108 Highlands-area streets that Google Fiber trenched for its short-lived Internet service should be restored with new pavement or sealant within the next year, according to the Metro Councilman who represents the area.
Google Fiber turned off its network on April 15, making Louisville the only city that the tech giant has abandoned. Google Fiber left behind fiber-optic cables buried in shallow trenches in city streets, many with rubbery sealant snaking out and, lately, weeds.
The tech giant agreed to pay Louisville Metro $3.84 million to fix the damage.
Metro Councilman Brandon Coan, whose 8th District had the biggest Google Fiber footprint, said in his weekly newsletter that the city's Public Works department will fix the trenched streets in different ways: some will get entirely repaved; some will get repaved in four-foot-wide strips to cover the trenches; and some will get "cracksealing" to fill the trench.
Neighbors in the area are glad to hear their roads will be fixed, but they aren't looking forward to another neighborhood invasion after the previous installation headaches.
"We're going to be dealing with construction," Job Juarez said. "I will have construction crews here from 7 in the morning until 9 p.m."
Juarez is one of many area residents unsatisfied with the experience with Google Fiber. He said he won't soon forget the impact the company had on his neighborhood.
"Basically, they used us, and they destroyed our streets," he said.
It wasn't immediately clear how the city plans to fix streets in Portland, the only other location where Google Fiber dug trenches in road pavement. A Public Works spokesman did not immediately respond to a call and email on Thursday.
Coan said the upside of losing Google Fiber is that 49 streets in his district will get a full repaving ahead of their normal schedule.
"A lot of these little streets that might not normally get paved are going to get paved," he said in an interview.
The city's paving plan does not pertain to the state-owned roads that Google Fiber trenched, Coan said. Those are portions of Bardstown Road, Baxter Avenue, Eastern Parkway and Newburg Road.
