Wayne Mears' passion for cycling brought him to PennDOT

​Wayne Mears works full time in PennDOT's communications department, but during his off hours, he is back in his saddle. No, Wayne isn't a cowboy—he is a bicyclist. His passion for biking and safety led him to a job at PennDOT 8 years ago.

"I don't remember a time when I didn't bike," Wayne said. He has ridden the Sea Gull Century twice, starting at Salisbury University and riding to Assateague and back. Generally, Wayne leads a group 2-3 times per week and they average 30-40 miles per ride. He likes to show others the joy of riding, talk to other's about bicycle safety and lead groups. Gung Ho Bike shop sponsors a Facebook page that Wayne manages to engage and educate other riders.

Wayne also has an intensive background in illustration, layout and design. Before PennDOT, he worked mostly with direct response advertising. He was responsible for over 70 million mailers per year plus the insertion planning and buying of media. "At times, we would print enough to fill three train cars of paper per month," Wayne said. 

Wayne continues to work with his art in his spare time, mostly airbrushing cars or motorcycles for friends and family. His most memorable project was a Honda Civic he rebuilt from a total and went on to win second place out of 10,000 cars at the NOPI Nationals in Atlanta. That project was done for his daughter and later was passed onto his son who completely rebuilt and redesigned it—with dad's help, of course. The Civic is now well on its way becoming the center of attention at next year's import car shows.

Last year, Wayne was instrumental to the creation of PennDOT's worker's memorial housed in the Keystone Building Atrium, which won the Display category of the 2019 AASHTO TransComm Subcommittee awards. Wayne is unofficially known as the "brand compliance" expert for PennDOT and was a Star of Excellence recipient this year.