FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Lauren Hames 407-246-3106

MAYOR DYER TO DECLARE
JOHN YOUNG DAY IN ORLANDO

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 2, 2004) -- Mayor Buddy Dyer will declare Friday, March 12, 2004, John Young Day in Orlando.

Astronaut Young will be in Orlando to participate in the groundbreaking for a major Florida Department of Transportation project on the road named in his honor. The groundbreaking will take place on March 12 at 11 a.m. on the property of First Baptist Church of Orlando, 3000 South John Young Parkway. First Baptist donated the land for the fly-over.

Young grew up in Orlando and attended Princeton Elementary School and Orlando High School before beginning a NASA career that spans the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle eras. He is the only astronaut to have flown twice in each of these three different space vehicles. He commanded Apollo 16, becoming one of only a dozen men to land on the lunar surface and as commander of STS-1, he and fellow astronaut Bob Crippen were the first Americans to fly a shuttle into space. Captain Young remains an active astronaut and currently serves as an associate director with NASA in Houston, TX.

The event will kick off a $38.8 million Florida Department of Transportation initiative to renovate the I-4/John Young Parkway interchange. The construction will feature a 1627-foot fly-over ramp from westbound I-4 to John Young Parkway. The project is a major component of the Florida Department of Transportation’s I-4 "ultimate plan" and will ease congestion at the intersection.
 

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