Google did a remarkably poor job in Louisville, and it's absolutely no surprise to me that they're giving up.
Google's strategy was to build a FTTH network with microtrenching. In practice, this meant cutting a 2" deep groove in city streets, placing a fiber optic cable in it, and using an expanding rubber gasket material to cover the groove.
This failed in spectacular fashion. One of the best pictures was this: https://www.wdrb.com/news/belknap-neighborhood-residents-con...
... a fiber optic cable, barely buried under the surface of the road, exposed after a few freeze/thaw cycles.
If you click on no other link about Google Fiber in Louisville, click on this one. This scene is repeated all over the city.
There won't be much in the way of "dark fiber left behind" because most of the Google Fiber rollout was FTTH done ridiculously poorly.
And for the customers? The only company competing for residential gigabit service is AT&T, which (wisely?) rolled out their service to high density apartment areas and wealthy condos; for most residents, Spectrum or Uverse DSL are the only real competitors.
Some cites:
https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/photos-how-google-fibe... -- Microtrenching will save Google!!
https://www.wdrb.com/news/google-fiber-announces-plan-to-fix... -- uh oh, things aren't so good...
https://9to5google.com/2019/02/07/google-fiber-closing-in-lo... -- we give up, 2" of trench won't do it.