Abstract: Preloading with surcharge is the most common technique of ground improvement used in highway engineering.An equation describing the relationship between the settlement rate during preloading with surcharge and the post-construction settlement under the conditions of equal loads was derived.The equation revealed that the control values of settlement rate under the conditions of overloading depended on not only the allowed post-construction settlements,but also the consolidation property of soil,the loading rate and the beginning and the end time for all load increments.By means of the theory of settlement prediction for stage constructed embankment on soft ground,the procedure to forecast the surcharge removal time was established.Finally,a case history was analyzed to verify the use of the proposed method.