Abstract:[Purposes] The paper aims to study the impact of local government debt on rural road construction.[Methods] Based on the provincial panel data, a basic model of the impact of local government debt on rural road construction was constructed. According to the region-time double fixed-effect regression and the correlation analysis among regional heterogeneity, the panel threshold model was constructed based on nonlinear correlated control factors and threshold regression analysis was carried out.[Findings] There is a negative correlation between the scale of local government debt and the level of rural road construction. The impact of local government debt on rural road construction varies among eastern, central and western regions. Compared to the central and eastern regions, the western region has a more significant negative impact. The level of economic development has a single threshold effect on rural road construction, which can mitigate the negative impact of local debt on rural road construction.The regions with more developed economic level have stronger bearing capacity to local debt.[Conclusions] In view of the current debt pressure of local governments and the status of rural road construction, the western local government should reasonably control debts and build a diversified financing mode.