Earlier this year, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its annual report card about the health of the nation's infrastructure, giving the United States an overall grade of "D+" and stating that $3.6 trillion in investment is needed by 2020 to avoid catastrophes that could cost lives and cripple local economies. Not only would this investment protect lives, it also would boost job creation at a time when the economy is still struggling to get back to full employment. Here are 14 of the most critical areas the United States needs to invest in before it becomes too late to prevent needless deaths, according to ASCE.

After the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge in Washington State, Ironworkers General President Walter Wise called on Congress to break the unprecedented gridlock and make immediate investment in rebuilding the country's crumbling infrastructure. Wise noted numerous reports in recent years highlight addressing America's infrastructure is long overdue. Most recently, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave United States infrastructure a grade of D+.

While the nation’s infrastructure has seen slight improvement since the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its last report card in 2009—from D to D+—the group warns that, without a major commitment and investment, the roads, bridges, drinking water systems, mass transit systems, schools and systems for delivering energy that we depend on “may soon fail to meet society’s needs.”  

What would it cost if the nation’s crumbling infrastructure of bridges, roads, rails, sewer systems, power grids, airports and more is allowed to deteriorate at its current pace? Some 3.5 million jobs and $3.1 trillion in lost economic output by 2020. What would it cost to avoid that? About $1.1 trillion in additional investment.

Sure sounds like a great return on the investment and it is, according to a new report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The study, Failure to Act, finds that:

The nation needs to spend $1.7 trillion by 2020 to shore up its infrastructure, or it could lose more than 876,000 jobs, and hold back the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth by $3.1 trillion in the next nine years, according to a new report by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).