בדרך לעבודה הייתי עוצר ליד הרמזור וחוצה את הרחוב רק כשהאור היה ירוק.

הייתי + participle often expresses a habitual or repeated action in the past — something like I used to... or I would... in English.

So:

• עצרתי = I stopped / I did stop (a specific past action)
• הייתי עוצר = I used to stop / I would stop (something repeated regularly)

In this sentence, the speaker is describing a routine on the way to work, so הייתי עוצר is the natural choice.

In Hebrew, the forms that look like the present tense are also participles, and they are used in several constructions.

Here, after הייתי, they help create a past habitual meaning:

• הייתי עוצר = I used to stop
• הייתי חוצה = I used to cross

So even though עוצר and חוצה look like present forms, together with הייתי they refer to the past.

Yes, הייתי applies to both verbs.

The full idea is basically:

• הייתי עוצר ליד הרמזור והייתי חוצה את הרחוב...

But Hebrew often omits the repeated auxiliary when it is understood, so:

• הייתי עוצר... וחוצה...

This is very normal and natural.

Because Hebrew often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb already makes the person clear.

• הייתי already means I was / I used to
• so אני is not necessary

You could say אני הייתי עוצר..., but that would usually add emphasis or contrast. In a neutral sentence, Hebrew normally just says הייתי.

We know from the participles:

• עוצר
• חוצה

These are masculine singular forms.

If the speaker were female, you would expect:

• הייתי עוצרת
• וחוצה or more clearly והייתי חוצה? Actually חוצה is also the feminine singular form here in spelling? No — for this verb, feminine singular is also typically written חוצה?
  To avoid confusion: for לחצות, the feminine singular participle is commonly חוצה in unpointed spelling as well, while עוצרת clearly marks feminine.

So the strongest visible clue here is עוצר, which is masculine. A female speaker would say הייתי עוצרת.

את is the direct object marker. It appears before a definite direct object.

Here:

• חוצה = crossing
• הרחוב = the street

So חוצה את הרחוב means crossing the street.

A very important point: את is not translated into English. It does not mean with here. It is just a grammatical marker showing that הרחוב is the direct object.

The prefix ה־ means the.

So:

• רמזור = traffic light
• הרמזור = the traffic light
• רחוב = street
• הרחוב = the street
• אור = light
• האור = the light

Hebrew often uses the in situations where English also uses it for a specific, understood thing in context. Here the speaker means the relevant traffic light, the street being crossed, and the light of that traffic signal.

כש means when.

So:

• כשהאור היה ירוק = when the light was green

This כש is a shorter everyday form of כאשר. So these are similar:

• כשהאור היה ירוק
• כאשר האור היה ירוק

The first one is more natural in ordinary speech and writing.

Because Hebrew usually does not use a present-tense word for to be, but it does use forms of היה in the past.

So:

• האור ירוק = the light is green
  (no present-tense is)
• האור היה ירוק = the light was green

Here היה works like was.

Because the adjective agrees with אור, and אור is a masculine noun.

So:

• אור ירוק = green light
• האור היה ירוק = the light was green

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would normally be feminine too.

It means on the way to work.

Breakdown:

• בדרך = on the way / on the road / en route
• לעבודה = to work

Together, בדרך לעבודה is a very common expression for on the way to work.

Because ל־ (to) is an inseparable preposition in Hebrew. It attaches directly to the following word.

So:

• ל + עבודה → לעבודה

The same thing happens with other common prepositions:

• ב + בית → בבית = in a house / in the house
• כ + ילד → כילד = as a child

This is a basic and very common feature of Hebrew spelling.

ליד means next to, beside, or by.

So:

• ליד הרמזור = by the traffic light / next to the traffic light

In context, it means the speaker would stop near the traffic signal before crossing.

Hebrew often puts a time or setting phrase at the beginning of the sentence to establish the scene.

So:

• בדרך לעבודה הייתי עוצר...

is very natural and means something like:

• On the way to work, I would stop...

You could rearrange parts of the sentence, but this order sounds smooth and normal because it gives the context first.