After almost 34 years at the Wis. Dept. of Transportation, John Haverberg has decided to retire from state service. In addition to his duties in a range of positions, John has been professionally active on the larger scene.
Haverberg began his career with WisDOT shortly after receiving his B.S. in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison in 1969 where he studied with Eldon “Red” Wagner, Jim Clapp, and Jim Scherz. He returned to those roots in later years through research projects with Al Vonderohe and Frank Scarpace.
At WisDOT, John began as a geodetic surveyor, then rose through a variety of positions to lead the Technical Services Section in the Madison office where he oversaw all agency surveying and photogrammetry. He retires as head of the Bureau of Highway Development.
We have worked with John for many years through several connections. He served on our office’s advisory committee from 1987-2002. He was his agency secretary’s designee to the Wisconsin Land Information Board for its first four years.
On the national scene, John served on the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Surveying for twelve years including three as its chair.
In looking back over his career, Haverberg notes the profound effects of technological change including GPS, analytical and softcopy photogrammetry, and both office and field use of computers and data collectors. John was instrumental in development of the Wisconsin HARN, the shift from NAD 27 to NAD 83, the Wis. County Coordinate System, WISCON software, and the Height Modernization Project.