I remember it because while I was taking RE classes, there was a case similar to my example above. A new business owner lost a case where he decided to hang a chain across the side of a parking lot.
People had been using his newly acquired lot to make a shortcut from one street to a business on the next parallel street.
He lost because it had been common practice to use his lot for that purpose for more than twenty years. There were bullards and a chain there but they were never used to disrupt the traffic flow in all those years.
Another example that was adjudicated at the same time was a long used walking path that cut a 45 degree angle across a field that was located on two perpendicular streets. The owner began construction on a wall that would force people to use the sidewalk around the lot.
Zoning people ruled that he could only build the wall if it was constructive to an additional development of the property. It could not be built simply to reroute foot traffic.
The property is now built out but I don’t know if there were additional motions or actions in that case.
I remember being told years ago by an uncle, who was not a lawyer, that Rockefeller Center would deliberately block access once a year to keep their property from becoming a right of way. In England, from whence our laws come, a public right of way that has been used for many years trumps the landowner’s rights.