I was in NOLA that weekend and evacuated Saturday afternoon. I went up Airline and crossed the river and road the river road up to 190 and went east on 190. It was a piece of cake compared to Rita. For Katrina, I got to I-10 on the west side of BR in about 3.5 hours - over 2.5 hours just getting to the bridge to cross the river off of Airline, it was smooth sailing after crossing the river. It took me 13 hours to go 50 miles evacuating for Rita. There were no restrooms, no gas and no food on the way out for Rita either, everyone shut down completely. For Katrina, we pulled through and got some drinks to go over on Airline.
The evacuation mess does not weigh into my decision to stay or go. The trick is to wait until everyone else is gone then you have the road to yourself. There was about a 24 hour or more period for that before Rita. No dangers, just being patient and waiting until the crowds were gone. But most people I know said they won’t evacuate again just because of the nightmare of staying on the road that long without any facilities.