The stability of surrounding rock is closely connected with the settlement of the crown during construction of shallow-buried road tunnel in gravel strata. Therefore, simulation analysis of different construction methods was used to get the settlement law of the crown to optimize the project as a goal controlling settlement of the crown and stability of surrounding rock. At the same time, the better method of construction was put forward to analyze different excavation path and stage length. The result showed that the crown settlement easily took place during excavation of shallow tunnel and with different construction methods, the difference of crown settlement was great. It is found that CRD method is the most appropriate for gravel strata tunnel because the crown settlement is lest and the stress releasing is slow and gradual and the stress transfer is more effective than CD method. Compared with site monitoring, the result is more identical. The conclusion can provide the reference for similar engineering.