This happened to me today, fortunately it was about 1:30 pm so traffic was not too heavy. Right rear tire, which made it even harder to deal with on a freeway.
The problem was that, on the bridge, there is no pullout lane at all, so if I stopped I would have blocked one of the three available driving lanes. So I slowed down to 25, put on my emergency blinkers, and drove maybe 1.5 miles to the end of the bridge, to where there was a pullout lane. Of course, I shredded my tire, but I think the rim is ok (the tire stayed on the rim enough to protect it a little, I guess).
I wasn’t sure I had done the right thing, but when a CHP showed up he asked me to drive forward another 100 feet to a turnout so that the Caltrans guy could change my tire. I don’t know what would have happened if I had still been in a driving lane on the bridge.
So I am out the cost of a new tire but comparing that with the potential danger of waiting on the bridge (or, worse, trying to change my tire on the bridge) I think it was worth it.
I’ve seen enough stories about people being struck and killed while on the side of the road where I can’t see any fault with what you did. no shoulder or breakdown lane? To hell with the tire, no reason to risk some inattentive dolt running you down.
We were driving on a bridge on the Cross Bronx Expressway once, no shoulder, when the alternator went kaput and the whole car just completely shut off. Somehow, my mom managed to drift across three lanes of traffic (turn signals not working, power windows couldn’t be wound down to give hand signals without electrics), coast down an exit ramp, and glide to a stop on the side of a sketchy South Bronx neighborhood street without killing us. That remains the scariest car-related experience of my life. But I think sitting there in a dead car in the thru lanes of a Cross Bronx Expressway bridge would have been worse. I think you made the right choice.
Twenty-something years ago, I was with my family coming back very late from visiting cousins in New Jersey. We had a flat tire on the Tappan Zee Bridge at about 1-2am. I think we were within sight of the toll booths at the eastern end of the bridge. After we had pulled over to change the tire, a tow truck showed up to assist us. I think they saw us from the toll booths and had a tow truck on standby to assist motorists.
Happened at a non-peak time (for which I am thankful) and we were no longer a direct problem for traffic, which may be why it took over 30 minutes for anyone to show up.
I had something similar happen back in the 90s. In my case my distributor broke. The engine started stumbling, so I put it in neutral, and without the distributor working, the engine quickly spun to a stop. By sheer coincidence I also had a loose connection on one of the battery terminals, so that when the engine stopped spinning, I had no electrical power whatsoever. The extra oh-shit factor was that this happened at night on a rural interstate highway at high speed. Suddenly I was doing 65 through pure inky blackness, and I had one shot at coasting the car completely out of the driving lanes and onto the shoulder without running even slightly off of the pavement (lest I hit one of those mile markers). Somehow I got it right, but dayum was my heart pounding.
As for the OP, I would have done the same thing, tire (and possibly rim) be damned. I don’t think I would ever elect to change a tire with the car in a driving lane.
Last February I was coming home from Pennsylvania when I hit a pothole.
I have those low-profile tires that will get sidewall bubbles at the slightest provocation, and usually will be ruined by a pothole.
After the teeth-jarring ka-thunk I watched in horror as the low pressure light came on, followed by a message saying “flat tire.”
I rolled to the shoulder on the PA side of the Route 1 bridge, and I changed the tire there in ten-degree weather with the roadbed moving up and down as each truck passed.
I called my tire place (a number I keep handy) and made sure that they had one ready, for a stiff price, as I rolled on in that afternoon.
Low-profile tires…fun to drive on, but not practical.
San Mateo bridge has on duty CalTrans safety vehicles. If you had stopped, someone would have showed up very quickly to help you change the tire or, more likely, help you do what you did, and clear the road.
Knowing that bridge, you absolutely made the right call. Never a good day to get knocked into the Bay.
Years ago, I discovered that the front end of a Taurus is made of spun sugar when I bumped into the vehicle in front of me at the Bay Bridge tolls at about 8 AM. The low nose of the Taurus slid under their high bumper. IIRC, I was in the #4 lane, between the two flyovers.
After I unbent their license plate, they took off, leaving me with a cloud of steam thanks to a cracked radiator and a smashed battery. Moments later, a tow truck starts working its way to me for a quick snatch and grab to take my car to the parking lot. No idea if anyone bothered to pick up the shattered bits of my headlights before the backed-up traffic started to move again.
The only good thing to happen that day is that Caltrans didn’t charge for the towing to get me out of traffic, and then (with another tow truck) to a repair shop in SF, or for the bridge toll.
You absolutely did the right thing. I once read that the lifespan of someone sitting still in a highway lane can be measured in minutes, even if all the hazard warnings are working.
I know that bridge well (and I much prefer the Dumbarton) and you did the right thing. Those who would have been backed up behind you thank you also. You really don’t want to show up on KCBS.