The board of chosen freeholders shall light with electric lights all public highways which have or shall have been constructed in part by the state leading from the main shore and across the meadow to any seaside resort and which are over one mile in length and have two or more bridges constructed thereon.
No contract for lighting shall be made for a longer period than five years, or without having first advertised for bids for at least two weeks in three or more newspapers published and circulating in the county.
N.J.S. § 27:16-26