A new study says Twin Cities residents spend more on transportation than on any other necessity, including housing. The Surface Transportation Policy Project-- a national smart-growth advocacy group based in Washington D-C-- ranked the Twin Cities 6th of 28 metro areas in out of pocket expenses for transportation. The typical Twin Cities' household spent 8,600 dollars per year on transportation. And 98 percent of that money went into owning and operating automobiles. The findings are based on data from the federal goverment's Consumer Expenditure Survey. Barbara McCann Co-authored the study. She says the findings weren't very suprising: