(UPI) A driver said he feels lucky to be alive and uninjured after a chunk of concrete fell from a Massachusetts overpass and crashed through the windshield of his car.

Leonard Brown, 64, of Santa Barbara, Calif., said he was driving Tuesday on Route 28 in Somerville, approaching the southbound ramp to Interstate 93, when something he initially thought to be a chunk of ice or snow crashed through his windshield.

"It went right by my head," he told WBZ-TV.

Brown pulled over to examine the damage and he discovered what had actually crashed through his vehicle.

"While I was standing there responding, I realized what really had happened," he told the Boston Globe. I had just barely missed being hit by a piece of concrete that was 12, 15 inches across and several inches thick and had gone from the front window and was sitting on the back deck of my Audi Q5 in the backseat.

Brown, who is visiting Massachusetts so his wife can undergo cancer treatments, said he was grateful she wasn't in the car at the time of the incident.

"I think I'm very lucky to not be injured," he said.

Kristen Penucci, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said the agency dispatched inspectors to determine whether the bridge is safe.

"MassDOT was alerted to a report of concrete falling from the Exit 20 overpass and immediately dispatched staff to inspect the structure," Penucci said.

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