All boards, departments, and officials of government are authorized and permitted to lease or sell school and public lands traversed or bisected by a highway, road, or railroad, canal, river, or lake as two or more separate parcels, each of which may be leased or sold separately or together with an adjoining tract. Lands consisting of less than one hundred usable acres [40.47 hectares] may either be leased or sold separately or with tracts in the same section or adjacent section.