One of the 3 lights in town hit red and I had sit behind 2 cars....

It was agonizing.

all four cars hit there at the same time. Everybody sat and waited for the other to move. It was like that for @ 3 minutes.
I was in a car behind one of the four at the corner just laughing my ass off.

cause a couple of guys in pickup trucks were parked in the middle of the road catching up.

Hell, Dallas has transit. Even Houston has a little. And with that in place, I could operate in Austin!

Austin was busy. Very busy. I did not, however, find it to be any worse than Chicago or St Louis. We drove down to Corpus and Padre over the summer and then again a couple months later to take our daughter to college. Both those trips we took a route that had us driving around Dallas/Ft Worth and Austin (San Antonio, too...) Frankly speaking, the Texas driving was not terrible, but that drive across Arkansas was a road trip thru hell. I lost two hubcaps and was afraid for my life a couple of times at what appeared to be busy travel centers. (Sorry, Arkansas, but I was not impressed at all with the small slice I saw from the interstate.)

I've been here in Port Aransas since the middle of Jan, and this trip we drove down thru Memphis and across Louisiana into Texas there at Houston. That Houston tollway was a lifesaver. The rest of the route down was fairly pleasant, with the added bonus that I got here with all my hubcaps! We made a lunch stop in East Baton Rouge that was a pretty sketchy place, but that was a matter of bladder needs taking control of the agenda. Won't be stopping there again on the return trip next week...

I wouldn't be afraid of Austin again, but for sure you want to time it so you avoid rush hour--just like you want to avoid rush hour is DFW or any other place.

YMMV.


Laura

It was atrocious way back in 1983.

I'd hazard a guess that it was always bad.