Alison Frazier’s career trajectory was set long before college. As a pre-teen, she narrowed it down to two options that paired with her love for how things are made: architecture and engineering.

The deciding factor?

“I used to read encyclopedias,” Frazier said. “I looked up the listings for architect and engineer, and the salary range for engineering was $30,000. I thought that was a lot of money, and so I decided to go with that.”

Decades later, Frazier retired from the City of Auburn after 30 years as a civil engineer, 28 of which she spent serving Auburn residents.

“For years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Alison and have seen first-hand her dedication to service,” said Auburn City Manager Megan McGowen Crouch. “Auburn is a better place today because of her decades of hard work and innovative ideas and projects. I wish her all the best in retirement.”

A native of Enterprise, Alabama, Frazier came to Auburn for school and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1995. She worked for the Alabama Department of Transportation for two years before beginning her career with the City in 1997.

She held several roles over the years including project manager, acting assistant city engineer and storm water engineer. She was promoted to Engineering Division manager in the late ‘90s and became the director of the City’s newly formed Engineering Services Department in 2017. She is a certified floodplain manager and bridge inspector and earned her professional engineer license in 2008.

Throughout her career, Frazier had a hand in a slew of infrastructure improvement projects that improved traffic flow and safety. She played a part in widening Dean Road and Samford Avenue to accommodate increased school traffic. She helped coordinate improvements at East University Drive and Opelika Road as well as South College Street and Shug Jordan Parkway, which both resulted in fewer traffic accidents.

She helped plan and oversee City facility projects, the first of which was the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center that opened in 1999. When thinking back, the project that stood out the most was the new Environmental Services and Public Works Complex that opened last year.

“The thing I liked about that project is that it served the staff that takes care of our City, that keeps it clean, that services our vehicles so we can meet all of these demands and needs of our community in a condition that makes it say we appreciate what you do,” Frazier said.

Another project that rose to the top of her list was the infrastructure build out for Northwest Village, a subdivision designed to provide home ownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income families.

No matter the type of project, they all had the same end goal – serving Auburn residents.

“Serving the public is definitely a calling,” Frazier said. “It’s the hardest work you’ll ever do, but once you work here, it prepares you for anything.”

“I hope my work here has helped improve the quality of life for Auburn residents, visitors and people who aspire to live here. A lot of that has been through infrastructure, and I hope some of that has been through relationship building.”

As she enters retirement, Frazier is looking forward to taking time to rest. But then, “I’m an engineer,” she said, “so I’m going to do some more engineering.”