MADISON, Wisconsin (WKOW) — A three-foot steel brace fell from the Monona Terrace parking ramp and crashed through a woman’s car roof while she was driving underneath.

Joyce Robertson-Hoyt said driving south on John Nolen Drive, getting ready to merge and exit the tunnel when the impact shook her car. She pulled over and saw the beam sticking out of her roof.

“It wasn’t until I got actually back in the car that I looked in the passenger ceiling and saw that it was actually sticking about eight inches into the passenger side of the cabin,” Robertson Hoyt said.

Monona Terrace officials said they cannot comment on how the ramp was built or maintained because the state owns the structure.

Madison City Engineering said they are working closely with the Department of Administration to do a full safety inspection. Both the center and city said they are glad no one was hurt.

Robertson-Hoyt said even though she was not physically hit, the experience was traumatizing.

“I’ll probably need some days, maybe, of not driving the car, not that I’m driving this car anyway, but you know, just a little bit of time to kind of calm down from everything,” Robertson-Hoyt said. “We’ll have to try to, you know, figure out how to get a new vehicle and move forward.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Administration said they plan to do an in-depth safety inspection Tuesday, which could result in lane adjustments to safely allow those inspections to take place. Those adjustments are up to the city of Madison.

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