A main route is set to be closed for the next stage of multi-million-pound road upgrades.

Swale Way in Kemsley, near Sittingbourne, will be shut in both directions for a weekend as part of the Grovehurst Road Improvements project.

The road will be shut between Lloyd Drive and the Swale Way roundabout by Jackson Civil Engineering, which has been contracted by Kent County Council (KCC) to deliver the £32.7 million scheme.

It is so utility engineers can install services and drainage across the carriageway.

Works are set to begin at 8pm on Friday, September 27 and will last until 5am on Monday, September 30.

Drivers wanting to travel to the Swale Way roundabout from Barge Way will need to head to Castle Road.

From there they will have to follow Eurolink Way and the B2006 to the Bobbing roundabout.

Then motorists will use the A249 Sheppey-bound exit slip to turn to the Swale Way roundabout via Grovehurst Road bridge.

The construction of the temporary road that Jackson said it would build on Swale Way is still ongoing.

But the firm says upcoming works are “crucial at this stage and cannot wait until the temporary road is in place”.

It also says it will not go ahead with the weekend closure if Southern Water works in Ferry Road, Iwade, continue past the expected finish date.

The news comes after KentOnline went behind the scenes of the installation of the second bridge.

It is set to be open for traffic in spring next year.

KCC estimates there will be 30% more traffic using Grovehurst in 2037 than there is today.

This is because Swale council’s Local Plan, adopted in 2017, outlined that it will need to provide more than 13,000 homes across the borough.

Some 7,899 of these will be built in the A249 corridor with Key Street in Sittingbourne, also set to be revamped.

That part of the scheme has not yet started.

An application for detailed permission for a 455-home estate, just yards from the Grovehurst Roundabout, was submitted this week.

If approved, the Bellway development will wrap around the eastern edge of the village, from Grovehurst Road to The Street, and feature a country park.