Construction of the Exclusion Departure Deck at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial is under way.

It is being constructed at the site of the historic Eagledale Ferry Dock, where Japanese Americans were gathered during World War II to be taken to internment camps. The addition is a memorial to the first forced removal and exclusion of 120,000 Japanese Americans during the war.

The 45-foot cantilevered deck at the end of the existing 276-foot Memorial Wall is estimated to take several weeks to complete.

“Once people have walked in the footsteps of history at the Memorial Wall, tracing the steps of the first Japanese Americans in the nation to be forcibly removed in WWII, the Exclusion Departure Deck will complete their journey of discovery where our friends and neighbors left the island, facing an unknown future and fate,” said Val Tollefson, president of the memorial’s association.

For safety and liability concerns, access to the Memorial Wall will limited during constuction of the deck. The rest of the site – including exhibits along the entry and exit paths of the Memorial Wall – will remain open.

Designers of the Exclusion Departure Deck, the third phase of construction at the memorial site, are the award-winning Seattle firm Jones and Jones Architects and Landscape Architects. They also designed the existing memorial site and Pritchard Park’s entrance and parking.

The final phase of construction at the overall memorial is in the final planning stages. It will add a visitors’ center, outdoor amphitheater, ADA accessible restrooms and paved plaza.

Clark Construction L.L.C. of Bainbridge Island was awarded the almost $231,400 contract for the Exclusion Departure Deck. Funding for the project was made possible by private donations and an almost $188,000 National Park Service grant.