You seem up on all this, and I sure hope you're right. I think trashing the viaducts would win the Idiot City Planning Award of many years. Nevertheless.......... IF the viaducts were in fact to be replaced under MRN designation, by a forcibly "higher standard/greater capacity structure," I'd rather see a tunnel. Take it from there, if you will.
You don't say how. It's going down a hill into what used to be a swamp, which is now a bunch of heavy metal contaminated backfill. Where do you put a tunnel? In the air, or in the soup?