Abstract: In order to explore the deformation and failure law of roadway surrounding rock under different coal pillar widths during roadway excavation in three-soft coal seam under the influence of adjacent goaf, the research methods of theoretical calculation, numerical simulation, physical similarity simulation and field measurement are used to analyze the stress evolution law, plastic failure range and displacement distribution characteristics of roadway surrounding rock under different coal pillar widths after the existence of goaf. The results show that the free zone is the main reason for the asymmetric failure after roadway excavation, which increases the angle between the principal stress direction and the vertical direction of the coal pillar, and the stress of the two sides of the roadway is asymmetric distribution characteristics that the coal pillar side is greater than the solid coal side. The failure form of three soft roadway is mainly shear failure, and the main body of failure is two sides. With the increase of coal pillar width, the angle between principal stress direction and vertical direction decreases, and the failure degree of roadway surrounding rock decreases. The influence degree of free area on different positions of roadway is different. The failure degree of surrounding rock in the middle of roadway is greater than that at the end, and the failure degree of coal pillar side is greater than that of solid coal side. The increase of the width of the coal pillar has limited improvement on the stress of the surrounding rock and the damage of the coal pillar. The field results show that when the width of the coal pillar is 20 m, the normal maintenance of the roadway meets the demand.