On March 30, 2021, Commissioner of Precinct 2 Charlie Riley and his MCTRA Operations Manager, Robert Castaneda spoke to the membership of the Magnolia Rotary Club about many of the road projects completed between 2019 and 2021. Pictured above from left to right are Robert Castaneda, Kelly McDonald, Hope Moye, and Commissioner Riley.
 
Commissioner Riley started off with a slide presentation of before and after photos of the Hwy 249 Extension to Grimes County including:
  • Hwy 249 Bridge over Spring Creek
  • Decker Prairie / Hardin Store Intersection
  • Main Toll Gantry
Commissioner Riley then turned the meeting over to Robert Castaneda, MCTRA Operations Manager for the Hwy 249 Extension Project to speak to some of the following issues he had to deal with to get the road completed:
  • Deciding on where to place the Toll Ramp locations
  • Spring Creek to Woodtrace Blvd.
  • Contractor issue such as:
    • Which end of the road to start on
    • Painting issues
    • Project schedule and rainy day impacts
Robert Castaned then pointed out that the Hwy 249 Extension Project would have taken 20 more years to complete had it not been for the creation of the MCTRA (Montgomery County Toll Road Association). In addition, it was estimated that it would have cost $63 Million more dollars to do.
 
Robert Castaneda then turned the meeting back to Commissioner Riley who showed before and after photos of the following completed projects:
  • Honea Egypt Road Widening
  • Sendera Ranch Road Improvements
  • Fish Creek Thoroughfare and bridge over spring creek
  • McCaleb Overpass at FM 2854 & Service Road
  • Keenan Cut Off Railroad Overpass
  • Overpass at FM2854 - Fish Creek to McCaleb Road
  • Grand Pines Road
Commissioner Riley spoke highly of the Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District (WMPID) who partnered with the county on several road projects. He then took questions from the audience before closing his presentation. Everyone felt like it was a great presentation and thanked both Commissioner Riley and Robert Castaneda for their informative presentation.
 
They were other attendees including Real Provencher and his wife Barbara but because of the room the meeting was in, the group in the room could not see them as is usual with the club's hybrid meeting format.
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