On the road in Austin, it's stop and go on freeways and city streets.

Drivers give the wait at Austin red lights mixed reviews, but the National Traffic Operations Coalition gave Austin’s traffic lights an “A” in 2007 - up from a “c” rating in 2005. They released their 2007 report card Tuesday, and Austin is one of ten cities in the United States to earn an "A" from the coalition.

During peak travel time stoplights along Highway 360 are timed to stay red the longest in the city. The total wait time can be up to three minutes per red light.

“Every year it's getting more and more difficult for us because the intersections not expanding. They're the same size that some of them have been for the last 50 years,” said Consulting Engineer Ali Mozdbar

Mozdbar says two key changes in Austin since 2005 have made the difference.

Better synchronizing on busy arteries in and out of Austin, like Lamar Boulevard and Burnet Road, have helped traffic flow.

The city also began a preventative maintenance program on stoplights instead of waiting until one breaks down.

“If the technician is working way in the south and the call happens to be on north side of town - it could easily take one hour...one and a half hours,” said Mozdbar.

The proactive approach has cut maintenance calls in half from 5,000 to 2,500 in one year.

That’s given them more time to devote to other traffic signal projects.

Crews say they've been able to better analyze traffic patterns by studying around 300 intersections and tweak the red light timing.

But Mozdbar says it can never be perfect.

“We're trying to do our best to make it perfect. But we know in reality that it's not, because in many locations we don't have the capacity,” said Mozdbar.