It runs for about 640 feet (200 m), from Seagate in the east to Marischal Street and Tolbooth Wynd in the west.

The street is one-way in a clockwise direction, with public parking along its centre on either side of the Reform Monument.

Broad Street was formerly the eastern terminus of the A950, which runs between Peterhead and New Pitsligo, 19.2 miles (30.9 km) to the northwest.

[2] Several ship owners lived on Broad Street in the mid-19th century, including James Arbuthnot, John Birnie, Robert Birnie, Robert Kidd, George Maitland Jr and the Robertson brothers.

[6] There are 22 listed buildings (13 Category B; 9 Category C) on Broad Street: 60 Broad Street, at the eastern end of the road, is on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.