Does anyone know why this sign is put up on the side of the road? I can see putting up a sign that says "Bridge Out" or "High Water Ahead" but not this. I am not going to purposely pick out a section of road to veer off whether the guard rail is damaged or not.

someone got sued once would be my bet

When a guardrail installation is damaged, a review should be made to determine whether it is feasible to upgrade the installation to current design standards. "Guardrail Damage Ahead" signs should be installed only when substantial damage occurs to guardrail barriers or attenuators which causes them to not function properly. Repairs should be made as soon as practical. The following items should generally be considered in this analysis:

Is the section of guardrail still required under current design standards?
Can the guardrail installation be avoided with the elimination of the hazard or the flattening of the slope?
If it is determined that the guardrail is still necessary and more than approximately 25 percent or more of the installation requires replacement, the installation should be upgraded to current design standards.

Texas is one of the states where it's legal to move over to the shoulder to allow another vehicle to pass.
Depending on the damage to the guardrail it could present a danger to someone who moves over for another vehicle.

https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/transportation-code/transp-sect-545-058.html

Have you ever seen the TxDot road crews? The signs are so they will know where to go to work.

They don't actually do the work.
They sit in there trucks and watch the contractor do it.

I’ve wondered the same thing before.

Depending on the degree of damage to the guardrail, some drivers (most I hope) might stop to see if anyone needed help. The guardrail damaged notice tells drivers that whatever accident caused the guardrail to be damaged has been dealt with.

I've seen more new guard rail and cable catches going up the last couple of months than I've see my whole life. Most in places that never had anything before. Must be a big contract out there for someone.

I love the cable catches, they limit the ability of PoPo to radar both sides of I-10, I usually wave as I go by at 85 because they are stuck on the other side.

Many years back, there was an older bridge on my route to UTA on I-820 with an outdated guard rail. Someone destroyed it, and they had the damaged guard rail ahead sign up for a very long time. During that time, a truck hit the damaged guard rail location and went over the bridge and onto the highway below. There were either 2 or 3 people in the truck and at least one of them died, if not all 3.

My wife says these signs are probably a distraction to other drivers. She thinks that the thought is "wow, damage ahead let's see how bad" I can half way agree with her.

it makes me look.

85 would be impeding traffic on I-20. even the POS cars do 95+ 24/7