The presence of roads influences the utilization of natural resources,which has direct and indirect impacts on soil erosion.Quantitative analysis of soil erosion and its relationship to road level and how this varies both spatially and temporally is very important.This paper presents the relationship between soil erosion and distance to the road in Fengqing county,Southwest China for two periods,1987 and 2004.Average soil erosion values were calculated and transformed into a grid map using USLE model based on GIS and remote sensing.Along the different level roads classified as trunk,county,town,village,and unpaved road,the buffer zones were subdivided into five 200 m wide strips.The average soil erosion modulus of each buffer zone also was counted.Results showed that soil loss generally decreased with increasing distance to the road except for trunk roads which are rare in the region.Also,the decreasing intensity of erosion differed among road type.Soil erosion was more serious along lower level roads than higher ones.During the two periods,soil erosion was more severe for all the level roads in 1987 than that in 2004 due to greater rainfall in 1987.