Abstract: According to the deformation monitoring data of surrounding rock at soft rock roadway,it is found that the creep capability of surrounding rock of soft rock roadway is gradually weakened with the decrease of soft rock thick- ness. Thus,the “hesitation effect” of creep of surrounding rock of soft rock roadway was put forward. Based on the effect of friction between hard and soft rock and surrounding rock mass displacement constraint stress,this paper inves- tigated the mechanical mechanism of “ hesitation effect” occurred. Using dynamic simulation technology,the corre- sponding critical condition of the “ completely hesitation effect” of surrounding rock occurred was obtained,and also the calculation method of critical thickness was presented. On the basis of the research above,the essence of “ yield” was analyzed,the applicability of the principle of “ yield” was provided,and the meaning of “ secondary supporting” was introduced and improved. Finally,with the industrial test,the significance of the “hesitation effect” on the design of roadway support was proved.