Property, Plant and Equipment

9 Months Ended

Sep. 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	September 30, 2016			December 31, 2015
Land		$	34,295		$	33,386
Building and improvements	3 - 40 years		314,577			313,736
Real property interests	50 years		2,394			-
Poles	13 - 40 years		231,835			228,031
Fiber	7 - 40 years		2,217,760			1,948,192
Equipment	5 - 7 years		127,496			-
Copper	7 - 40 years		3,518,283			3,475,987
Conduit	13 - 47 years		90,538			89,460
Tower assets	20 - 49 years		7,307			-
Capital lease assets	See Note 2		88,999			-
Construction in progress			44,693			4,749
			6,678,177			6,093,541
Less accumulated depreciation			(3,984,036	)		(3,720,890	)
Net property, plant and equipment		$	2,694,141		$	2,372,651

Depreciation expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 was $95.0 million and $271.7 million, respectively. Depreciation expense for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and for the period from April 24, 2015 to September 30, 2015 was $86.2 million and $150.0 million, respectively.

As of September 30, 2016, construction in progress includes approximately $1.3 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.