My concern wasn't that of me holding up traffic because I couldn't clear the intersection in time, but rather that of my safety and wondering if people can see me before they start going. It's been more than once that some car started moving in lane 9 before I could clear the intersection. Three cars cars went through in front of me before I could go and people in lanes 7 8 were getting angry because I was stopped in the middle of the street on their green light. One guy threatened to run me over.
Anyhow, I went exploring the area and found an intersection about 1000 ft up the street where I have a stop sign instead of a traffic light and has a pedestrian island in the middle. That way I can get about 1/2 way through if the entire street isn't clear. Funny how they have this here but no pedestrian crossing at the other intersection.
The only problem now is that sometimes car will come to a stop for me when I'm next to the pedestrian island so it takes longer than it should for the traffic to clear. The island is more than adequate for the length of my bike so I'm not standing in traffic or anything.