Dozens of cities across the country made efforts to build safer streets for their residents and some of those cities, like South Bend, discovered that it wasn’t as easy as they suspected.

Smart Growth America says many discovered a number of barriers as people struggled with change.

The National Complete Streets Coalition hopes to create more safe streets through a new initiative called the Safe Streets Academy, and they’re shining a spotlight on three cities that they say have created better environments.

South Bend was one of the three, praised for the Smart Streets initiative and its desire to learn more about integrating creative placemaking into Complete Streets safety improvements, and sharing their experiences overcoming resistance to road issues.