WASHINGTON - In what Northwest lawmakers are hailing as a coup, the president's new budget request includes nearly $175 million for light rail and bus projects in Oregon and Washington.

The Bush administration would spend $80 million apiece for light-rail lines in Seattle and Portland, as well as $15 million to improve bus service in the Springfield area.

Seattle-based Sound Transit would get $70 million for a 14-mile line being built between downtown Seattle and a site north of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The money had been expected under a 2003 agreement that authorized $500 million in federal funding for the $2.4 billion project.

But the budget request also includes an unexpected $10 million to extend light rail to the University of Washington. The University Link Light Rail Transit Extension is one of two projects nationwide proposed by the Federal Transit Administration for a full-funding grant agreement, similar to the one in place for the airport line.

Sound Transit officials said they intend to submit an application for the funding agreement for the $750 million University line later this year.

“We can only wish surprises like this came every day,” said Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, chairman of the Sound Transit board. “This proposed funding shows the Bush administration is ready to continue helping our region. We're fortunate to have the support of the administration and Senator (Patty) Murray's strong leadership in our congressional delegation.”

Murray, D-Wash., is chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee and a longtime Sound Transit booster. She said in a statement that she was pleased the president's budget “continues to make good on a commitment to support Sound Transit's bold transportation goals to improve transit service in the region.”

Murray praised U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, and said the money for the University Link line may have come as a result of a trip Peters made to Seattle in November.

“I was pleased to give Secretary Peters a look at our region's transportation and transit challenges. She saw firsthand the impact that this extended light-rail network would play in helping us address our traffic challenges,” Murray said.

As one of only two projects nationwide that received a “high” ranking by the FTA, the University Link project is well-positioned to move forward, Murray said.

Oregon officials were equally pleased at the administration plan to spend $80 million for an eight-mile extension of TriMet's MAX light-rail line along Interstate 205 south of Portland.

The administration also recommended $80 million for the project last year - a request that is still pending as Congress considers a spending plan for the budget year that began last October.

The 2007 request includes $27.6 million for a 14.7-mile commuter line along the fast-growing Wilsonville-Beaverton corridor in Washington County.

TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen said he expected the grants for the MAX line and the Wilsonville line to be approved. The MAX project, known as the I-205/Portland Mall project, is part of a $557 million plan to build a Green Line from Clackamas to Portland State University in downtown Portland.

The other project is part of a $117 million plan to connect Wilsonville and Beaverton in the city's fast-growing suburbs.

Hansen, who was in Washington on Tuesday for the official announcement by Peters, credited Oregon Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer for helping to secure the federal funding.

“It was expected but certainly welcome,” he said.

The president's budget also includes $14.8 million for a 7.8-mile extension of the Franklin Corridor bus service along the Pioneer Parkway in Springfield, Ore. The project is expected to cost $37 million and carry an estimated 3,700 passengers daily when it opens in 2010.