This study was performed to analyze the distribution, contamination degree and human health risks of traffic-related heavy metals (HMs) in roadside soils along G4 highway and G60 highway in Hunan province, China. A total of 45 composite soil samples from three sampling sites (LC, CT, and TS)with different distance (5 m，10 m，15 m，40 m，or 80 m) were analyzed for HMs concentrations of Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr and Cu. The results showed that the concentrations of those HMs in roadside soils decreased with the increasing distance from highways. A pollution assessment by Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo) showed that the pollution level for the HMs is in the following order: Cd＞Pb＞Cr＞Zn＞Cu. The Cd levels can be considered “heavily contaminated” status in the distance of 5 m. And Cd also presented high risk based on potential ecological risk indexes (RI). The other detected heavy metals are practically uncontaminated or uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. The health risk of HMs in highway roadside soils was evaluated by hazard index (HI) and cancer risk (CR). The results showed high HI for Cd, Cr and Pb, indicating a potential human health risk for both adult and children in these areas. But cancer risk of all those HMs for both adult and children was acceptable. Cr in three studied sections showed a slight cancer risk (carcinogenic risk in the acceptable range) in the distance of 80 m, which indicated the residents around highways should be living outside the distance of 80 m.