The New Orleans area has one road out of town and got 1.1 million people out before the storm hit.
Three roads out of town. I-10 East, I-10 West and the highway north over Lake Pontchartrain.
Nagin failed to get the sick and infirm out of town. Galveston evacuated all hospitals, as did League City, Texas City, Webster, Pasadena and south Houston hospitals and nursing homes.
Apparently, New Orleans evacuated no hospitals, and few nursing homes.
You've got a bit of a chip on your shoulder in trying to defend Nagin and Blanco. Anybody with two eyes could see the difference between the Texas mobilization and the "you're on your own" evacaution of New Orleans.
Okay, now you're reaching. They have I-10 going east, I-10 going northwest to Baton Rouge and I-55 going due north. Whether it is easier to move half a million when there are three major thoroughfares or four million when there are five major thoroughfares (I-10 east and west, I-45 north and US 59 northeast and southwest) and a few extra days is an open question. But there's no doubt to me that the Houston/Galveston area evacuation went better than the New Orleans one. Whether that's because of less government incompetence or more advanced notice or just the fact that Katrina happened first, can be debated forever. The upper Texas Gulf Coast got everybody out of dodge and, from my observations, did so with few snags given the monumental task involved. I give credit to any offical of any party who helped to make that run smoothly.