Abstract: Taking the reinforced embankment of Shifang highway as research object and combing with on-site monitoring data, the deformation and failure characteristics of the reinforced embankment are studied using the elastic-plastic finite element program. On this basis, parametric analysis is carried out on the reinforcement stiffness, reinforcement spacing. The main results show that: ① due to the thick backfill behind the masonry retaining wall, there is an uneven settlement at the bottom of the reinforced embankment, and the reinforcement stiffiness almost has no effect on it, therefore, the compaction degree of the backfill behind the masonry wall should be guaranteed.② maximum strains at all levels of the reinforcement are distributed in the near embankment slope, and the maximum axial force is located in the lower part of the reinforced embankment.③ the failure mode of the reinforced embankment belongs to internal failure, i.e.the reinforcement is pulled off. The failure surface is located near the reinforced embankment slope; the structural strength and stability of masonry retaining wall foundation has an important role on the whole stability of the reinforced embankment.④ with the increasing of the axial stiffness and the decreasing of the reinforcement spacing, the bi-directional displacements are decreased and the safety factor are increased accordingly. However, when the axial stiffness of the reinforced body reaches a certain extent, its influence on the deformation characteristics of the reinforced embankment is greatly weakened. The results have a certain theoretical and reference meaning on the design calculation and construction of the mountaineous reinforced embankment.