Abstract: In the process of excavating thick coal seam roadways, how to ensure the stability of the surrounding rock during the excavation of gob-side roadways and reduce the impact risk caused by excavation disturbance is a key problem that needs to be solved urgently.The paper uses analytical methods, numerical simulation, and field measurements to study the law of stress changes in the overlying rock layer of gob-side roadways during excavation.It proposes the “stress reconstruction” hypothesis for the overlying rock layer of the coal pillar in go-side roadways, analyzes the possibility of impact occurring under three stress states; and uses numerical simulation to determine the trend of the plastic zone range change in different coal pillar dimensions.The results show that: The secondary excavation of the gob-side roadway during the excavation of thick coal seam results in an increase of stress values, which is the main factor leading to the occurrence of impact.Through numerical simulation, when the width of the coal pillar is equal to or greater than 30 m, the plastic zone ranges on both sides reach stability, and the shear strength of the roadway sides is reduced to the lowest.The effects are verified by stress monitoring and monitoring of the three parameters of the roadway, and the maximum stress value reaches 9 MPa and the deformation of the surrounding rock in the roadway is controlled within 10% of the cross-sectional area of the roadway after optimizing the width of the coal pillar, using “large diameter+blasting pressure relief”,and “bolt anchors+double nets+large support plate” combined support.