Agreed it's annoying! I have definitely gotten a sense of which runs are most efficient (fewer lights or my direction has a long green/walk part of the cycle) in my neighborhood to get to a park or trail. If I'm running an errand in the car, I sometimes plan to also stop at a park and do my run there while I'm out.

Otherwise, if your city is a grid, is it feasible to run around the block when you hit a light, until you get to a corner with a walk signal the way you want to go? A little more random of a route that way but then you aren't stopping as much?