Seattle’s planned light-rail tunnel and New York City’s subway tunnel both got federal boosts Feb. 6, as U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that the projects received Full Funding Grant Agreements from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program. The $5-billion, 8.5-mile Second Avenue subway in Manhattan will receive the first $200-million installment of a total $1.3-billion federal pledge. Seattle’s 3.1-mile light-rail extension between downtown and the university district will get the first $10-million installment of a total $750-million federal pledge. The federal budget also includes $72 million for six projects pending final design: Connecticut’s New Britain-Hartford busway; a Northstar Corridor Rail project in Minneapolis; the North Corridor bus rapid-transit project and Southeast Corridor BRT project in Houston; the light-rail project in Norfolk, Va.; and the Dulles Corridor Metrorail extension in northern Virginia.