へと, not に?

[Hektor6766]

I'm confused by the use of へと here. It's not an "and" or "with" construction, it's not an attempt, and if it means "up to", why don't they just use に?
　
レベル７へと引き上げられた福島第一原発です。

Tae Kim's forum wasn't very helpful with this.

[NileCat]

There are three ways to convey the meaning.

レベル７ へ 引き上げられた
レベル７ へと 引き上げられた
レベル７ に 引き上げられた

Kim Tae’s page explains them as target 「に」particle and the directional 「へ」particle.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gr ... bparticles

And へと is a so-called double particle which consists of へ and と. Its function is to add some nuance. It usually puts a focus on the destination.

[Hektor6766]

Thank you.

Just out of curiosity, is this form ever used for a physical destination, i.e., "I traveled toward and made it to Tokyo (despite some difficulty)."?

[NileCat]

Yes, It is.
But, sorry, the nutural choice of the appropriate particle in a sentence might be kind of challenging for a whike I'm afraid.