Work starts next week on a £9.5m Gravesend transport project – just weeks after the contract was awarded – set to transform the area around the town’s railway station.

The contract has gone to Jackson Civil Engineers and it will be heralded by a sod-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.

Tree clearance began in March to avoid the bird nesting season and advance archaeology surveys began on April 4.

Signs in the town indicated the main work would get under way this weekend but it will now begin on Tuesday.

A Kent County Council spokesman said the development will take some 18 months, completing towards the end of 2017.

The introduction of a two-way Rathmore Road route will link Wrotham Road and Darnley Road, crossing through Rathmore Road car park – now closed – to be replaced by a smaller one.

The nearest parking will be in Parrock Street, with blue badge spaces for disabled drivers.

The scheme will introduce a new ramp for pedestrians, giving a direct connection from the car park to the link route.

There will be a new forecourt built on the south side of the station providing a drop-off point, taxi bay and five disabled parking spaces.

Other aspects of the scheme include creating:

• A new junction with Wrotham Road/Stone Street
• An entrance to Barrack Row from Clive Road for buses only
• Darnley Road will become one way north-bound for all except buses, taxis and cycles.

More details about how the project will progress, and any disruption, are expected shortly.

A KCC spokesman said: “Our aim is to construct the scheme as efficiently as possible while minimising disruption to traffic and impacts on the operation of the town centre and railway station by a variety of communications including KCC’s website.”

This project is part of Gravesham council’s vision for a transport quarter. It coincides with the building of a cycle hub at Gravesend station, accommodating 258 bikes. That is due to be completed in the summer.