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Yesterday, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) provided a “strong” rating for the Central Subway’s second phase, the Third Street light-rail project.

As part of the FTA’s New Starts program, the project received a medium-high justification rating and medium-high overall rating. In addition, the Obama Administration’s proposed fiscal-year 2011 transportation budget would appropriate $20 million in New Starts funding for the project’s ongoing design work — the first time the light-rail line has garnered a specific funding recommendation in the federal budget, according to SFMTA.

So far, the Central Subway project has received $72 million in New Starts funding. SFMTA expects the federal government to contribute about $1 billion for the entire $1.6 billion project, which will establish subway service under the city’s South of Market, Union Square and Chinatown neighborhoods, and extend the T Third light-rail line that opened in April 2007. SFMTA plans to complete the project in 2018.