Can i unmute a selected portion of the track while the rest remains silent?

The best (and working) solution i was able to find was to “Split New” a selection into a separate track where i can edit it separately, but that raises a problem where my audacity project eventually get vertically crammed with tracks, making it uncomfortable to work with. Can i have two sound files that do not overlap on the same row? like, just visually have them sit next to each other, rather than one under another?

Like this do you mean?

well, when i see the same stuff you made a screenshot of, i cant edit these pieces separately. if i highlight a portion and hit Tracks > Mute/Unmute > Mute tracks, the entire horizontal track gets affected, not just the white stuff.