What’s your job? is a series focused on the work of FP&M employees. As the largest and most diverse nonacademic unit on campus, it can be challenging to learn everything our division is responsible for. These stories shine a light on FP&Mers and what they do to keep campus safe, sustainable and successful.
Traveling through campus, it can be easy to miss the work that goes into helping us all get around. Behind the scenes, Transportation Services employees work to ensure that everyone — faculty, staff, employees, students and guests — can get where they need to go efficiently. Transportation Engineer Hayden Groot is one of these employees.
A UW-Madison alumnus, Hayden enjoys helping his fellow Badgers get to and around campus. One of Hayden’s primary responsibilities is managing transportation-related signage and markings on all campus parking lots and ramps to ensure that campus is up to federal guidelines and that campus is easier to navigate. He also reviews construction documents for the Capital Project Delivery department to ensure that construction plans are aligned with the goals of the Transportation Services department and that everyone involved has their voices heard.
“I also coordinate with the city and Metro transit a lot,” said Hayden. “Communicating impacts like if we have to close down a bus stop or not, or if we have a project that needs to utilize the city right of way…ensuring that’s all sound.”
Traffic control is one of the many moving parts of any large construction project on campus, and Hayden often serves as a middleman between the public and the project. He handles questions or concerns about construction plans and how the plans affect campus, and he also advocates for the safety of all modes of transportation. To do this, Hayden makes sure he is familiar with all areas of campus and tries to see things from different perspectives so he can understand how best to speak up for the variety of people who need to get around on campus.
One example of this work is assisting with the construction of the new Levy Engineering Center on Engineering Drive to ensure vehicles, including buses, cyclists and pedestrians can get around the area safely. His role is to review the plans developed by the architecture/engineering team, track the project through construction, and suggest improvements, particularly concerning transportation needs. Although the project is creating temporary disruptions in the flow of vehicle and pedestrian traffic, it’s a development that is important not only to UW-Madison, but to the State of Wisconsin as a whole, allowing UW to educate more students in engineering and creating more engineers, a need for Wisconsin.
Recently, Hayden oversaw new paving projects around campus, including routine maintenance of the pavement markings which are crucial for guiding both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Markings enhance safety by clearly delineating lanes, crosswalks, bike lanes and more providing vital information for all users. He also oversaw extensions to the Campus Drive bike path, which make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to commute to and/or across campus.
Hayden always knew he wanted to pursue a career in engineering. He likes building things and wanted to be a part of that process on a larger scale. However, transportation engineering, specifically, was not something that Hayden had planned on.
“I just kind of fell in this niche of transportation, which deals a lot with design and construction and traffic, and I found it to be pretty rewarding,” Hayden said.
Hayden said he enjoys working with different people and groups across campus on a wide variety of projects. Along with the Capital Project Delivery department, Hayden also works closely with building managers across campus, as well as other departments and staff in FP&M, including Physical Plant, Campus Planning & Design, and the Office of Sustainability.
Hayden said it’s always an exciting day on the job because there is such a variation in the types and sizes of the projects that he is a part of. He enjoys knowing about all of these projects and getting to play a part in them.
A lot of people may think of vehicles when they think of transportation engineering, but Hayden likes that his work supports all forms of transportation on campus. Personally, he tries to avoid driving a car (and therefore avoid traffic) during the work day and enjoys biking around campus instead.
“Being at a place where I can have some advocacy for bikes and pedestrians…it’s a nice change of pace,” said Hayden.
Hayden hopes to continue his career path in transportation engineering, gaining more experience, skills and professional licenses as he does. He wants to continue focusing on improving facilities and contributing to the development of safer, more efficient transportation networks that promote orderly movement and reduce the risk of danger or collisions.
Be sure to say hello to Hayden if you see him biking around campus! If you want to learn more about Transportation Services, additional information is available on the Transportation Services website, or you can get in touch with Hayden at hayden.groot@wisc.edu.
By Anna Krawczyk
Anna is a strategic communications student intern with FP&M Marketing & Communications. She is a senior at UW-Madison majoring in Communications Art and Psychology with certificates in Digital Studies and Science Communication. Anna has been working at FP&M since October 2023.