The Montgomery County Commission voted unanimously at its Oct. 15 meeting to purchase property on Ellis Road for the easement of the railroad while the Amazon data project is still under construction.

The county paid $7,000 of construction easement from Northern Southern. It will be paid back by NorthPoint, a real estate development firm that is partnering with Amazon Web Services to build the first phase of Project Green, one of two data centers that are being constructed in the New Florence area.

“We write a check and NorthPoint reimburses us because they’re the ones who are going to take over the project to get it up and over the railroad,” Presiding Commissioner Ryan Poston said.

Ellis Road is located between New Florence and High Hill. An agreement between the county and NorthPoint was reached this winter. Improving several roads, including Ellis, was part of that agreement.

NorthPoint is constructing an elevated crossing over the Norfolk Southern Railway line that will include a bridge with 12-foot-wide lanes and two-foot-wide shoulders.

“They’re building ramps for each side of that bridge now,” 2nd District Commissioner Doug Lensing said. “Ellis Road itself is pretty much done.”