Major roadworks along Pier Road in Gillingham are to start next month as work on the Chatham Waters development begins.

Highways contractor John Sisk and Son Ltd will be carrying out the work – expected to take around 18 months in all to complete – on behalf of Peel Holdings, owner of Chatham Docks.

It marks the start of a massive redevelopment of part of the site that will eventually result in 950 new homes and the opening of a new Asda superstore in 2015.

The roads project will be laying the groundwork for this development, including preparatory work for the new £10m University Technology College due to welcome its first pupils in September 2015.

It includes major changes to the layout of the road outside Chatham Docks and eventually the replacement of the Strand roundabout with a new traffic light controlled junction.

The work is set to begin from June 9 and will be carried out in a number of phases starting with the widening of the carriageway at the Gillingham Gate junction.

The junction will be realigned as part of the Chatham Waters development in order to construct a new entrance into Chatham Docks to the proposed Asda store, as well as upgrading the overall junction.

The A289 eastbound will be closed on the night of June 9 to allow for temporary road markings works. A diversion will be in place.

The eastbound carriageway lanes will be narrowed temporarily at that stage to allow for realignment works to the junction islands. Those lanes will remain narrowed for about 12 months.

The westbound lanes will also be narrowed about four months after starting the works and will remain narrowed for the duration of the works.

During the works, there will be further night time closures of the eastbound carriageway, about four in total, in order to carry out further road markings and surfacing works.

Early warning signs will be put in place a minimum of two weeks ahead of any main road closures. The temporary narrowed carriageway lanes are being used in place of lane closures as part of efforts to reduce the impact on traffic.

The work at the A289/Strand roundabout isn’t expected to begin until August 2015.