Time Magazine has published a very interesting article in it's August 13, 2007 edition entitled, "The Threatening Storm." It provides a detailed look a defensive reconstruction plans and efforts since the storm, and, as expected for the area, investigates many of the absurdities and political ties of the plans. It's a fascinating read.
The full article can be found here:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1646611_1646683_1648904,00.html
For convenience, here's the printable version that contains the full article on a single page:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1646611_1646683_1648904,00.html
Also, in semi-related news that only present or former residents of New Orleans would like care about, I just found out that a completely new Twin Span bridge is being constructed. This bridge, part of a heavily used corridor of Interstate 10, connects Slidell to New Orleans East across Lake Pontchartrain. It was heavily damaged during Katrina, and though all four lanes have since been reopened, the westbound bridge is still utilizing temporary steel bridge spans to "fill in the gaps" where the cement spans were dislodged and destroyed, limiting traffic to only 45 MPH.
The new bridges will be a vast improvement over the current spans. They'll feature three lanes of traffic each (up from the current two-lane bottleneck) and will be set 30 ft. above the water level (up from the current 8 ft.). I know I'm a bit slow on the uptake here as initial construction apparently began on July 13, 2006 (according to the Wikipedia article, but I only just found out about it after seeing the new construction during my last trip to New Orleans.
The new eastbound bridge will be complete by 2009, with the westbound bridge following in 2011. Very cool.
Complete details can be found here:
http://www.twinspanbridge.com/
And finally, in semi-semi-related news that even fewer people will care about, the "Green Bridge" in St. Bernard Parish apparently has its own Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bridge_%28New_Orleans%29
I know, this is a largely useless addendum, but I was oddly excited to come across that entry and just felt like sharing. :-)