Abstract: Starting from the surrounding rock stability of the 5# coal seam working face preparation roadway in a coal mine with soft rock geological conditions, we focus on the retention distances of coal pillars between the lower 5# coal seam working face preparation roadway and the neighboring working face gate entry in overlying 4# coal seam goaf area.The plastic zone and vertical stress results of the numerical model established in FLAC^3D show that the preparation roadway for the 5# coal seam working face should be avoided as much as possible to be arranged within the stress concentration range of the retained coal pillar for the overlying 4# coal seam and the lateral abutment pressure range of the 5# coal working face mining influence.At the same time, the larger the width of the coal pillar, the stronger the stability of the roadway surrounding rock, but considering the comprehensive tunneling cost and the actual geological conditions of the mine, 40 m is finally chosen as the optimal distance between the preparation roadway for the working face of the lower 5# coal seam and the retained coal pillar of the upper working face entry.