Chick-fil-A has an Interesting New Drive Thru: Could It Help Missoula’s Reserve Street?

One of the irrational ideas I share every time someone complains about the traffic on Reserve Street is that we should have an overpass, but like, a really long one.

An overpass that stretches roughly five miles from north Reserve to Brooks. That way, anyone who wanted to go to the Bitterroot without stopping in Missoula could drive straight through.

Not very practical, I know, but building "up" may not be such a bad idea. In fact, Chick-fil-A is trying it.

USA Today is reporting the new favorite chain among Missoula chicken sandwich lovers just built an "elevated drive-thru" at one of its Georgia locations.

According to the article, by focusing their kitchen activities on a floor above the drive-thru, they say, that they can use conveyor belts to get food to customers faster and it allows for more lanes of traffic in the drive-thru, too. You can see a picture of it at this link.

It will probably be a while until something like this comes to Missoula, or Montana for that matter, but now it's got me wondering: how could we use designs like this to benefit Reserve Street?

Could other businesses use a similar design to move traffic through more easily? Could businesses on Reserve Street even benefit from having something as simple as a parking garage?

Of course, it's hard to build "up" in Missoula because of the city's height ordinance but even 40 feet/three stories could allow for some creativity.

What do you think of Chick-fil-A's 'elevated drive-thru'?