Hi Roy,
I usually come in from the Rubery by-pass and turn left at the roundabout onto Bristol Road South at Longbridge. Every time you pass there seems to be a bit more of the works cleared. I took the attached photo almost a year ago. My mother lives between Northfield and Cotteridge, so I turn off Bristol Road at Great Stone Road by the baths, so I don't usually go on the Northfield by-pass coming in. I have used it coming out of Birmingham and it is ok that way.
I go to a reunion with former workmates at The Green Man in Harborne most years in December, but I usually go up the M5 and come off at Jn 3, Quinton Expressway, Hagley Road and then cut through Ridgacre Road and Court Oak Road. I have been to Harborne a couple of times in 2009 but not via Shenley Lane and Barnes Hill. I don't know what locals think about the by-pass and Northfield village.
Brian