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.

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).