Property, Plant and Equipment

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Property Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Note 5. Property, Plant and Equipment

The carrying value of property, plant and equipment is as follows:

(Thousands)	Depreciable Lives	June 30, 2016			December 31, 2015
Land		$	34,008		$	33,386
Building and improvements	3 - 40 years		312,783			313,736
Real property interests	50 years		1,714			-
Poles	13 - 40 years		229,935			228,031
Fiber	7 - 40 years		2,129,873			1,948,192
Equipment	5 - 7 years		84,330			-
Copper	7 - 40 years		3,497,682			3,475,987
Conduit	13 - 47 years		89,659			89,460
Tower assets	20 - 49 years		5,299			-
Capital lease assets	See Note 2		64,556			-
Construction in progress			10,436			4,749
			6,460,275			6,093,541
Less accumulated depreciation			(3,890,873	)		(3,720,890	)
Net property, plant and equipment		$	2,569,402		$	2,372,651

Depreciation expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 was $91.2 million and $176.7 million, respectively. Depreciation expense for the period from April 24, 2015 to June 30, 2015 was $63.8 million.

As of June 30, 2016, construction in progress includes approximately $1.5 million of in process capital projects that were transferred to us at the time of the Spin-Off. As Windstream completes these projects, amounts are reclassified to depreciable assets. All construction in progress at December 31, 2015 related to projects transferred to us at the time of the Spin-Off.